


Omega

by JefferyHeyJeffery



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alpha!RK900, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Case Fic, Drugs, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, I just added that last one because gavin gets drunk like every night and THAT IS NOT HEALTY, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Masturbation, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Sex Toys, Sexism, Sexist Language, Slow Burn, not a lot... but like... its in there ok, omega!Gavin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-06-24 04:35:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15622665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JefferyHeyJeffery/pseuds/JefferyHeyJeffery
Summary: As a rash of omega kidnappings emerges in Detroit, detective Gavin Reed is placed in charge of the case. By his side is a stoic, piece of shit, android.Fucking great.





	1. Partners

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [Omega](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15692226) by [MiaMiMia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiaMiMia/pseuds/MiaMiMia)



“It’s because I’m a fucking omega isn’t it?” 

Gavin was about to start swinging at his boss. At this point he honestly couldn’t care less about the fact that he was making a scene. That everyone in the building could hear him screaming at Fowler, could see him through the stupid god damned glass walls. Didn’t matter. They all fucking talked behind his back whenever they got the chance. Let them talk more. Who even gives a shit?

Fowler pinched the bridge of his nose. Gavin had to forcibly push away the rush of shame that overcame him by instinct at the old alphas disdain. The detective knew that he really couldn’t give less of a shit that his captain thought he was being ridiculous. Childish. Acting like your stereotypical bitchy omega. No matter what his stupid, shitty, instincts said. 

“Reed, you and I both know full well that this about your safety-”

“The fuck it is!” Gavin growled though clenched teeth. “That drunk asshole just got paired with the little bitch Connor to babysit. Anderson was working by himself before. I’ve been going solo for years, and now because there’s some convenient alpha you think you can slap that… that thing with me? Is that it?”

Fowler crossed his arms, eyes squinting at Gavin with barely contained anger at the blatant insubordination. “I’m pairing you with that android because working in the field has become increasingly dangerous after the revolution. You can either agree to have him as your partner or keep doing reports in the office.”

“Fuck you.” It was all Gavin could think to say. Head filling with rage that made him see red. If he was an alpha, or even a beta, this wouldn’t be happening. 

“Reed,” The captain growled, a vocal display of the fact that he wasn’t about to put up with any more shit. “I can and will have you doing parking meter duty for the next month if you don’t clean up your mouth in my office. I’m putting myself on the line by letting you have this case. So, you will take this partner. You will treat him with respect. I’ll have him report to me if you fail to comply. Am I understood?”

Gavin snarled, but he knew, logically, that there was no good reason to keep fighting his boss on this. Still, he felt a crushing hit to his pride as he muttered a quick and venomous, “Yes, sir.”

He didn’t like having to tuck his tail for anyone. Didn’t like having to play the good little omega for any reason whatsoever. 

Fowler waived his hand. “You are dismissed.”

Gavin stood, chair scooting back behind him a little ways with the force. He wanted the captain to know how much he wasn’t okay with this, even if he did end up consenting. As he turned around, he saw the tall fucker he was supposed to be partners with. Supposed to be pleasant to. 

Not fucking likely. 

Gavin opened the door and shoulder checked the thing. Or he tried to. His shoulder only managed to come up to the middle of the androids upper arm. Whatever. The message probably came across pretty fucking clear. 

The detective marched towards his desk, pointedly ignoring the android following silently behind him. Avoiding the curious stares from his coworkers. He threw himself down on his swivel chair and started clicking away at his computer, finishing last minute paperwork. Sorting through bullshit emails from a week ago. Getting things in order before heading downtown. 

The android grabbed a nearby chair and sat down near Gavin. Porcelain face passive as its icy gray eyes bored into the back of Gavin’s head. 

Gavin shifted minutely in his chair. 

He absolutely hated the thing breathing down his neck. Hated the way it somehow smelled exactly like an alpha. Hated the fact that it was designed beautifully and it’s sculpted features just so happened to be kinda sorta his type. 

Not that he was thinking about that. 

The android cleared it’s throat. No surprise, Gavin didn’t pay it any mind and looked dead ahead at his screen. It shifted in it’s seat, “It will be a pleasure to work with you Detective Reed.” It’s voice a cold monotone yet oddly friendly as it spoke. “My name is Nines, by the way.” 

It held out it’s right hand for Gavin to shake. The detective rolled his eyes, like hell he was about to shake it’s gross fucking hand. He sneered at the thing, turning his head slightly to finally face it, “That’s a stupid fucking name.” 

The android shrugged slightly. The movement served to accentuate its broad shoulders. “It’s practical. RK900. Nines. It fits. Also, I would like to remind you that it is ill advised to be cursing at your place of work.” 

Gavin huffed, “I can do as I fucking please.” 

It- Nines- glared at the detective for a split second. Perfectly shaped eyebrows lowering over it’s pale eyes. Cupid bow lips turning down with disdain. 

Gavin turned away from it and closed out. He was ready for some fresh air. 

Maybe, if he was lucky, the tin can would find someone else to fucking glare at. 

-

There’s been a rash of missing omegas in Detroit. Kidnappings by the looks of it as no corpses had turned up yet. All victims are people that wouldn’t necessarily be missed all that quickly. Unmated, no children, with either separation from family or no family at all. 

None of the other officers in the DPD seemed eager to jump into the case. Fucking typical. Why would an alpha waste their time on omegas even further down on the social ladder than usual? 

Around twenty omegas had gone missing, and those were just the ones that the police knew about. So many more snatched from the underbelly of the city could be gone forever. Luckily, two had made it back miraculously. Turned back up at work one day, dazed and confused. They claimed to remember nothing, but Gavin had a hunch that there was something more going on there. They could have been spooked by the uncaring alphas that came by for the brief questioning. That sort of thing happened before, it wasn’t too much of a jump to think it could have happened here. 

Gavin drove to a ghetto of Detroit, searching for an address of the first witness. Her name was Rosaline Williams, human, twenty three years old, five foot two, employed by a local convenience store. She was reportedly a soft spoken introvert, pacifist, a common sort of omega in that particular area of the city. Gavin could only hope that after a week of being back, she remembered something, anything, that could help with the case. He was going in practically blind here. 

In the passenger seat of the old police cruiser sat the android. Blessedly silent for the majority of the trip. It only asked a few basic questions at the beginning and now, if Gavin looked over at it, he would see the reflection of a slowly spinning LED tinted yellow in the window. It was doing research, that was good. At least it was trying to make itself useful. 

Gavin pulled to a stop in a desolate street. Several vagrants sat, leaned against the old dirty walls of the dilapidated buildings, but that was about it. God, he really hoped that Williams was home, driving for half an hour with that freaky plastic prick better pay off. 

Gavin walked towards the old building, found her apartment and knocked on the door. The android trailed along silently. LED now a solid and relaxed blue. 

A small woman poked her head out of the door. “H-hello?” She squeaked, eyes squinting through thick glasses. 

“I have a few questions for you.” Gavin flashed his badge. 

“O-oh. Alrighty, then.” She sounded half resigned as she unlatched the chain lock from the door, like there was no fight left in her. A small part of Gavin felt sympathy for the young omega, but a much- much- larger part felt incredibly put off by this doormat. She was the very epitome of everything he tried so fucking hard not to be. A meek, quiet, scared little thing. 

Gavin walked into the small living room, followed by the android. He scented panic coming from Williams as soon as she spotted the imposing alpha. The thing was going to be a problem, so he faced it head on, blocking it physically form coming further into the house in an attempt to earn some brownie points from Williams. Also, he figured the action would get under the things skin. “Hey, tin can, get outta here.”

It tilted it’s head like a big cat, “I am here to help you question the witness, Detective Reed.” 

“Well, you’re bothering the nice lady, so why don’t you be a good boy and wait in the car.” 

There was that frigid glare again. Dumb instinct made Gavin feel like groveling and professing his apologies for a second.Just a second. It was still enough for the detective to fucking hate himself. 

The android looked like it wanted to argue with Gavin. It opened its mouth, then shut it, turned on its heel and walked back out, closing the door behind itself. Gavin grinned, a sick sort of powerful feeling overwhelmed the previous guilty one. 

“That was very brave of you.” Came a small voice in the center of the room. 

Gavin turned back around and sat himself down of a plush couch, facing Williams. The whole apartment smells heavily of omega and suppressants. The subtle scent of fear was still laced in the air. A perk of being an omega, advanced smell, better than betas or alphas combined. Like that had a chance of outweighing all the bad shit that came with being at the bottom of the food chain. 

The detective shrugged at the mousy omega, “Wasn’t a big deal.”

Williams looked awestruck. “I-I couldn’t do something like that. Are you going to be alright when you leave? Isn’t he your superior?” 

Gavin huffed with a humorless laugh, “Yeah, no. He’s a fucking noob. I’m the detective here.” 

“Oh,” she tucked a stray peice of hair behind her ear, “I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t apologize.” It make you look weak, he almost added, but instead he choose to shut his mouth. Now wasn’t really the time to rant at her. He needed to be her friend for just a little while so he could try to peel back a few layers that the other cops failed to. Which was super fucking obvious right now with how scared she was of alphas. 

“So... you said you had a few questions for me?”

Gavin nodded, “I know you were missing for around two weeks. You said that you don’t have any recollection of how you were taken or what happened to you while you were gone.” 

She hesitantly nodded at everything he said thus far.

“So,” Gavin continued, trying his utmost best to sound a little bit gentle, “I wanted to know if that is the whole truth. I wanted to talk to you… omega to omega.” Gavin had to swallow all of his fucking pride for that last part. He wanted to show that there was some common ground between the two of them. There was fucking nothing even close to common. But she didn’t need to know that so long as she gave him more conclusive answers. 

Williams rubbed her upper arm awkwardly. Her thick eyebrows lowered over hazel eyes like she was debating something. 

She remained mute, so Gavin pressed harder, “Please, Rosaline. I need to know everything I can so I can prevent bad things from happening to people like y- like us.”

She looked at him, mouth upturned in a deep grimace. She sighed deeply, then hunched forwards, like she just lost some sort of internal fight. “T-there were two men. One alpha, one beta. They grabbed me one night after I worked the night shift. And they- they…” She started crying and Gavin had an idea of what they did. 

“They had these needles and they- they- there was this drug that… I went into heat and… and they-” Her voice was broken in stifled sobs. Her head was cupped in her hands and her shoulders shook with the force of her heavy breathing. 

Gavin waited a beat, then asked, “Why not tell this to the other cops? We could have used this information a week ago.” 

“I didn’t want them to know! I don’t want anyone to know that I couldn’t defend myself! People already see me as a coward and I didn’t need any more alphas knowing how- how- how easy it is to… to do what those men did!” 

Gavin’s eyebrows furrowed, “Why tell me?” 

“You can understand! Life for us… it’s so hard and then there’s this?” She wiped her tear stained cheeks with the palm of her hand. “I could lose my job. My boss could see me as a liability and then- and then I’d be homeless and you- you know what happens to people like us on the streets. Just… I didn’t tell you anything, alright? You can know the information, but I didn’t tell you.” 

She was frantic. So Gavin nodded, hesitant and cautious to ask his next question, “Any of those men you talked about, did you see any of their faces? Can you remember where you were or why they decided to let you go?” 

She shook her head, “The men smelled like chemicals. Lots and lots of chemicals and where I was I couldn’t really- couldn’t smell over the stench of- of them. And I don’t know why they let me go. They stabbed me with another needle and then I woke up. That was it, I promise.” 

“I believe you,” Gavin said as softly as he could muster. This whole fucking thing was making his blood boil. Like alpha’s weren’t bad enough before! Now there was this shit. Those scumbags using omegas like fuck toys.

Gavin was going to take great pleasure in bringing those assholes down. 

He stood from where he was sitting and made his way towards the sobbing woman. He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Thank you for your time, and your cooperation.” He handed her a small business card, “If anything happens, you call me. I’ll be there, okay?”

She nodded as she grabbed the piece of paper. She clutched it to her chest as if it was the most precious thing in the world. “Thank you, f-for listening and for everything, d-detective Reed…”

He grinned crookedly at her. It was as close as he could come to a warm smile at the moment, “You can call me Gavin.” 

She smiled weakly, “Thank you, Gavin.”

-

The stereo was blasting in the car when Gavin stepped out of the apartment complex. Heavy metal blaring, vibrating the street slightly as the detective walked towards the old vehicle. Apparently, the android was having a bitch fit. 

Gavin opened the door, almost knocked back by the oppressively loud noise. Omega bonus number two, they have sharper hearing then the other two second genders. Not that that was doing the detective a single lick of good right now. 

He slammed the button to turn the music off, half hoping that he broke the damn thing so the android wouldn't get a chance like that again. “The fuck, tin can?”

“My name is Nines.” The android didn’t growl but it was a close thing, “You told me to wait in the car, and so I did. I was being, as you so condescendingly put it, a good boy.” He- it spat those last words. 

Jesus fucking Christ, it was actually mad! 

Gavin found some humor at the things obvious rage. He smirked and it was an ugly crooked thing, “Yes, you did so good, sitting in a car for several minutes! I’ll be sure to add a golden star to your sheet when we get back to the station!” 

The android snarled, a deep rumbling growl emanated from his chest for a second. The noise made Gavin’s stomach drop. He had the feeling that he should start saying he was sorry again- no that was fucking weak. He didn’t owe this pompous hunk of scrap a fucking thing. Who cared if its binary code said that it was supposed to be angry right now. It was all bull shit. 

“I will not tolerate being treated like a child on this case. I am your partner, Detective Reed. You have to let me speak to the witnesses! I can compile data, I can-”

“And I can’t?” Gavin snapped right back at the fucking android, “You must be a fucking idiot if you couldn’t see how terrified Williams was of alphas like you! You didn’t notice that all? Too hell bent on getting the mission accomplished, huh? You fuckers all the same stubborn pieces of shit. Assholes everyone of you.”

The androids eyebrows scrunched together, “‘You all’...?”

“Alphas! Who the fuck else you dense piece of shit? What, you think that just because you’re made up of fancy plastic and reinforced steel that you don’t qualify? You know what happened to that woman in there? She was kidnapped and raped because alpha’s like you,” He jabbed his finger into the androids chest, “Wanted to get their dicks wet and omegas are such an easy lay. Good for nothing but getting fucked, huh?”

The android balked, it looked shocked by Gavin’s words, “Detective Reed, I didn’t know that’s what happened to Rosaline… Though I can assure you that what you said, that is not my opinion on omegas, like yourself.”

“Then what’s your fucking opinion, genius?” Gavin growled as he drove off in the direction the the second witness. Tucker Smith, android, LM100 model. 

“I see everyone as equal. Androids, humans. Alphas, betas, omegas. Detective Reed- Gavin, I see you as my partner and nothing less. What happened to Rosaline, that is something that should never happen. Not to anyone. I wish to prevent events like that from happening again, and I will do everything in my power to help the people in need.”

It was being reasonable and Gavin fucking hated it. 

-

Smith lived only a few blocks away from Williams. The lack of more distance between the two made Gavin wonder if this was where all the the victims had been taken. He made Nines run a quick scan because hey, he has access to a super computer, he’s going to use it. 

As it turned out, around a dozen omegas were taken from this area. The others were taken from the other end of the city, also in a slum. Made sense to spread out after targeting a specific area. 

Gavin parked outside a small rundown town house. “Wait here.” He told the android, unsure if Smith would react like Williams to the large alpha. 

The android pouted slightly, but it didn’t look like it was about to start arguing. “Yell if you need back-up, Detective.” 

“Can do, boss,” Gavin said with a sarcastic salute. 

Gavin approached the one story building slowly with loud footsteps. Human omegas were jumpy enough, but he didn’t have a lot of experience with android omegas. Well, there was Connor, but Gavin tended to avoid the plastic cop after he bonded with Hank. The old alpha got really fucking touchy over his little bitch. 

The detective marched up the old wooden steps, boards creaking loudly under his weight. If someone didn’t notice his approach before they definitely heard him now. He knocked on the door and waited. 

And waited. 

He knocked again and no one answered. “Open up!” Gavin shouted, “DPD here, I have questions for you!” 

Still no response from the quiet building. On a whim, Gavin tested the door to see if it was open. Sure as shit the door knob turned and the door swung open. The detective was about to step inside when his arm was grabbed by the android. “It is a crime to enter someone else’s home, Detective Reed. You could be charged with a break in.”

Gavin yanked his arm away, “I thought I told you to wait in the fucking car.”

“You did, but you are being foolish. I figured I should try and stop you.”

“I know what I’m doing, asshole. Now, if breaking a few rules bothers you then look the other way. There’s probably a reason that Tucker isn’t here to open the door for me. I read its file, its unemployed. It doesn’t have anywhere to be.”

The android sighed, “I will go in with you then. This could be a potentially dangerous situation. Chances of injury are currently at 24%.” 

Gavin shrugged, “It’s a rough neighborhood, tin can. That’s why.”

“I told you to call me Nines.”

The detective waltzed into the house, middle finger held over his shoulder, “And I told you that Nines is a fucking stupid name.”

The android must have decided to bite its tongue, because it said nothing else. 

“Tucker Smith?” Gavin called out, not wishing to startle the victim. Especially not now that the tall asshole decided to join in. Personally, Gavin wasn’t all that worried about getting hurt or attacked by an omega. The android with him on the other hand… it could get stabbed or something. Gavin breifly pondered if he would be stuck with the payments. 

The detective searched the house, coming across a sparse bedroom with nothing but a bed and a dresser. It was adjoined by a bathroom. The door to it was closed and locked. Gavin knocked on the door, “Tucker Smith, my name is Gavin Reed, I’m from the DPD. Open up.” 

Like a repeat of everything before, there was no response. So Gavin decided that it was time for a bit more force. He backed up then kicked the door just like he’d been taught in academy. The door cracked and splintered in a few places, so it took a few extra kicks to get the thing to finally open. Whatever. It got the job done. 

Inside the bathroom was a horror show. The dismantled android that was once Tucker Smith sat in the bathtub. It looked like it had been stabbed dozens of times in the abdomen and chest. Deep wounds revealed internal wiring and shattered biocomponents. Its limbs were severed from each other, though they weren’t taken apart the way they should be. Metal splintered harshly here and there, showing though fake skin and that porcelaine white just beneath. 

The room stank of synthetic fear and blood and sweat. There was also the slightest stench of chemicals. Obvious enough to be there, but not potent enough to tell the detective what they were.

“Nines!” Gavin hollered, “Get you ass in here!”

The android jogged up and took a look at Tucker, “Jesus…”

“Can you analize stuff like Connor does?” Gavin asked abruptly, not wanting to spend much more time in the claustrophobic room than he had to. 

The android nodded, LED rotating yellow as it looked over Tucker, then staying that color as it reported to Gavin, “He was stabbed forty-nine times. Died due to shock and thirium loss. Estimated time of death is two in the morning today.” Nines turned to the door, “There is no sign of fingerprints anywhere. Meaning that he was more than likely killed by another android.”

Gavin ran a hand through his hair and shifted on his feet, “We should call this in. Let the forensics lab take a look at Tucker…” The detective trailed off, looking at the blackened eyes of the dead android. Blue blood lined these walls only hours before. God only knows what Nines was seeing right now. 

“I’ll call it in.” The android said. Voice slightly hushed and reassuring. Some desperate bid to quell the feeling of panic in Gavin? Who cares. The detective would have time to feel angry later. Right now he just had to get out of that small fucking death trap of a bathroom. Get away from the choking scent of chemicals and thirium.

So other androids were involved in this shit show… just grunt workers or collaborators in the darker parts of this? Gavin had no idea. 

He took a deep breath. First kidnappings and sexual assault, now fucking murder? 

Tucker must have been hiding something. Must have had some sort of information that led to its early death. Afterall, who ever these criminals were, they decided to spare Rosaline. This didn’t seem to be their normal status quo. 

So Gavin set about searching the house for more evidence. Tearing through the small dresser in the bedroom he found only two pairs of pants and two pale shirts. Nothing out of the ordinary there. 

He searched the kitchen, completely void of any food or cutlery. The room proven completely unnecessary to a thing that didn’t need to eat. A few packs of thirium were in the fridge. Every thing in the house was oppressively and annoyingly mundane for an android living by itself. 

There was nothing to go off of. Fucking nothing. 

Fuck.


	2. Fan-Fucking-Tastic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This just in: a part of my soul dies every single time I write an android with the pronoun "it"

Gavin Reed downed a fourth Whiskey on the rocks and focused his tired eyes on a TV in the corner of his favorite dingy bar. A sports game he didn’t care about blared in the background, fighting for his attention against the shitty live band. They were singing some cliche sad bull shit about lost love and broken promises. The lead singer was off pitch and off tempo. The bass guitar wasn’t tuned correctly and the sharp notes felt like ice picks digging themselves into the detective’s hypersensitive ears. 

He was grateful for the nose and movement and smells clogging his brain. He could focus on nothing and the alcohol was doing its best to help with every bitter sip. 

Thoughts of dead bodies and kidnappers, rape victims and androids all fled to the dark recesses of his mind. He knew that later, when he lay in bed alone, these images and emotions that he kept trapped behind walls of light and sound would emerge and he wouldn’t be able to sleep. 

He ordered another drink in a futile attempt to prolong the inevitable. 

Then another. 

The red team won the game and the few cheering for them celebrated for a second of drunken victory, then settled down to play more pool or stare at their drinks again.

As it was now around eleven o’clock, the band started to pack their shit in wiggly boxes and large metal cases. They hauled it out then a few stayed at the old bar to get drinks. They seemed pretty proud of their work and Gavin had no idea why playing like garbage was something to be proud of. But maybe he was just being an asshole and maybe he was the only one who even heard something wrong with the… the Banshee Brothers… the detective smirked into his drink at the impressively fitting name. 

The bass player, dressed in a denim jacket of all things, wandered on up to the bar and sat down next to Gavin. He smelled heavily of alpha and axe body spray. The man ordered a Colorado Bulldog then shot the omega a smile that was probably supposed to be charming. “You come here often?”

“You always use unoriginal pick up lines?” 

The man huffed, a sound half like an airy chuckle and a breath of disdain. “Kitten’s got claws, huh? My name’s Chad, by the way, but you can call me whatever you’d like.” 

“I think annoying cunt works just fine for you.” Gavin kept his eyes glued on the screen in the corner. He didn’t want this fuck boy of an alpha talking to him, didn’t want anyone talking to him, to be honest. 

“Oh come on, sweetheart. Why you gotta be like that?” The asshole leaned forward and draped his arm over Gavin’s shoulders. 

The detective shoved the man off quickly, causing the alpha to lose his balance on the bar stool and crash to the floor. 

“What the fuck, bitch?” The guitarist screamed, enraged. 

A threatening growl tore through Gavin’s throat, “Don’t fucking touch me.” 

“You’re unmated in a fucking bar!” The man stood up and brushed himself off, “I thought maybe you wanted a nice lay, my bad for trying to be a fucking gentleman.” 

Gavin stood up and roughly slammed his money down. He was so done with this whole fucking day. “What part of not interested don’t you understand?”

The man snarled, “You’re practically begging for it-”

Gavin didn’t let him finish that fucking sentence as he threw a right hook, hoping he would get lucky and knock all of the bastard’s teeth out. 

-

Gavin held his head high when he went into work. Wore his split lip and bruised knuckles like trophies of war. 

As he marched into the break room to get coffee several younger officers ducked their heads and moved out of the way, avoiding confrontation as best as they could. Smart kids, the detective thought with a devious smirk. 

Tina Chen leaned up against the counter next to the coffee pot and, as per usual, she didn’t move over for Gavin nor did she attempt to block his path. She just stayed put and sipped at her coffee with extra creamer quietly, one eyebrow quirked, “The fuck happened to you?” 

Out of all the people in the precinct, Tina was probably the closest thing he had to a friend. The beta never tried to pick fights or ‘put the omega in his place’ like a few other tried years ago- it didn’t end very well for them. His light smirk turned into a sharp grin as he grabbed himself a mug from a high shelf (he had to stand on his tiptoes but if anyone mentioned his height it also tended to end badly). “You should see the other guy.” 

She rolled her eyes, “Another alpha?”

Gavin huffed in some sort of weak mock of a chuckle, “Fuck, of course it was. Bastard didn’t want to keep his damn paws off.”

“Asshole,” Tina muttered into her coffee, downing the rest of it before pouring herself a refill and then heading out to her desk. Chen wasn’t a lady of many words and that’s probably a big part of why they got along in the first place. 

You know what else Gavin liked about Tina? No unsolicited advice. 

The detective knew that the relative peace of the morning was completely fucking gone when toaster model eight-hundred walked into the room, likely to get a coffee for Anderson. It was a weird little routine that the pair had. All domestic and shit. Fucking gross. 

Connor’s LED flickered to yellow as it looked over Gavin’s injuries, scanning for the cause behind them most likely. The android frowned in a soft way that only omegas- with the obvious exception of Gavin himself- could ever manage to master. A compassionate sort of thing that made Gavin want to punch the tin can in the face. “Are you okay, detective Reed?”

“I’m doin’ fan-fucking-tastic. Thanks for asking, dipshit.” 

The toaster’s LED spun blue and flickered yellow several times. “Were you injured at a bar, Gavin?” 

“Ding-ding-ding, give the robot its prize!” Gavin said with mock excitement as he walked away from Connor with a middle finger proudly raised over his shoulder. 

There was the briefest of pauses and for just one second the detective thought he was going to make it out of the break room without a fucking lecture. Then the android just had to go and open its mouth again, “It’s unsafe for an unmated omega to go to a bar late at night.” 

Gavin stopped in his tracks then turned to snarl at the android, “Maybe for you, asshole. Unlike some of you fucks, I can hold my own in a fight.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you, detective. I simply meant that, for your safety-”

“Look, tin can, in case you couldn’t fucking tell, I don’t need a babysitter. So how’s about you let me do my thing, and you can keep on being the good little bitch that you are.” 

The android opened its mouth for a second, then shut it deciding against continuing the argument like a good toaster. 

Gavin left the small room obviously pissed off. More people murmured behind his back like he couldn’t hear them, like he was too stupid to catch on to what they were talking about when they looked at anything but him or his eyes as he turned to face them. They were all a bunch of fucking cowards. 

The detective practically threw himself onto his swivel chair. He plugged his earbuds into his phone, turned the volume damn near to all the way up, then started reading over the report of the beta guards now stationed outside of Rosaline William’s apartment. The DPD wasn’t about to take any risks, wasn’t about to let the woman fend for herself in such a dangerous situation. 

Not after the body of Tucker was found with several dozen stab wounds then taken to the lab for analysis. The techs found no DNA of any possible attackers and they could only pull one shred of evidence from the robotic cadaver. The drug used to start up heats and sedate the omegas was a nasty mix of date rape drugs, stimulants, and tranquilizers. Designed with a wide enough variety, the drug was able to attack both androids and humans, keeping them subdued and out of it for several days. 

Whoever made the drug knew what the fuck they were doing as it contained copious amounts of Rohypnol, a chemical undetectable in a standardized test for Benzodiazepines- which looks for the more common of date rape drugs. Because of that, it took several extra hours for the desk jockeys to gather intel, and by then there were already five more omegas reported to be missing. Though the accounts themselves weren’t a good indication of when the men and women were actually taken. These papers only showed up when someone realized something was up, and then decided to do something about it. So by the time they reached detective Reed’s desk, an entire week could have passed by unawares. 

Gavin took a deep breath and tried not to let himself feel overwhelmed in any way by this case before him. He could do this. He drank the rest of his black coffee and started reading up on the new victims, all still gone. Lost in Detroit. 

Each one on the small and new list fit the quota of the last. There was no new information there. 

No other omegas had turned up, so Gavin figured his next best option was to go to their places of employment and talk to their bosses, to coworkers, to anyone who could have had the slightest chance of seeing what happened to the victims. He sighed and leaned back in his swivel chair, turning his head slightly to-

Gavin just about jumped out of his chair when his eyes met the cool grays of that fucking partner of his. The android just sat there, looking at the computer screen impassively, probably taking in information by the way his LED flickered intermittently from blue to yellow every other second. The detective ripped out his earbuds, “How long have you been sitting there, tin can?”

“Approximately three minutes.” It cocked its head towards the earbuds now limp and hanging from the edge of Gavin’s desk, “It is not recommended to listen to loud music. Prolonged exposure to loud noises such as that can result-”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m gonna go deaf, what the fuck ever. Did you read everything over my shoulder like a creep?” 

“I would not consider it creepy, detective Reed. I read everything I could and I believe myself to be fully informed about all of the new victims-” 

“So that’s a yes! Great.” Gavin turned to face his computer and exit out of his shit before leaving the office. He could feel a weird sort of sensation crawling up the back of his neck as the alpha behind him was probably scowling again. If looks could kill then the detective’s head would have definitely exploded into a thousand tiny pieces yesterday. 

-

Anya Tate, twenty-six, human. Her place of work, a local supermarket, was the first place Gavin decided to check. Simply for the fact that it was the closest location to the police station. 

As Nines went around questioning employees, Gavin went off to talk to the manager. Her office was easy enough to find, all Gavin had to do was ask a friendly enough cashier. The detective barged into the small back room without much thought, catching the older woman in the middle of a phone call. “DPD, miss, we have a few questions-”

The beta woman glared daggers at Gavin as she hurriedly placed a palm over the end of her outdated phone. “Can’t you see that I’m in the middle of something?” She hissed. Then turned her back to the detective as she continued to talk to whoever the hell was on the other end of the line, voice shifting into a matronly tone. “Well, you tell Michael that we are all very interested in meeting him. Bill is going to be cooking steaks and I’ll make that potato salad you love- Yes! That sounds wonderful, honey!”

Gavin tapped his foot with enough force for the action to be audible. “This is a serious matter-”

“Well so it this, just give me a damn minute!” She shook her head and faintly muttered “Fucking omegas,” under her breath, too quiet for someone else to hear, but to the detective, it was crystal clear. She leaned against the side of her desk nonchalantly then laughed at something from the phone. Gavin wanted to destroy the fucking thing. “Yeah, I have wine but if he wants to bring something with him then that would be just fine by me… Yup… uh-huh… Hey, I gotta go kiddo… yeah, work stuff… love you too, Em!” 

She set the phone down then sat down and eyed Gavin with disdain. “So what do you want?” 

Gavin had to restrain the growl that wanted to tear itself out of his throat. He needed to try to be at least partially civil to the lady unless he wanted Fowler to chew his ass when he got back to the station. “I need to talk to you about Anya Tate, she’s been reported missing. Do you have any idea as to when or why she was taken?”

“What happens in my employees’ personal lives is none of my business.” The manager almost seemed to make a point of not looking at the detective, not out of any sort of anxiety towards the cop, she was just being a total bitch. “She’s only been gone for a few days, so how do you know that she isn’t just hiding out somewhere going through heat? Omegas are bad about coming in to tell me when they’re going to be gone.”

Gavin ground his teeth together, “Exactly how many days has she been gone? The person who reported her missing wasn’t sure. What shift was the first that she missed? What day, what hour?”

“Like I said, it’s been a few days-”

“The DPD can’t work with a ‘few days’, we deal with exacts in the police force-”

The manager sneered, eyes flicking from her computer screen to the detective for just a split second, “There’s no need for you to get testy with me! Have some manners, omega.”

Okay, Gavin was going to rip her throat out. Fuck the consequences. 

He took a step forwards, the movement went unnoticed by the manager whose eyes were once again glued onto the screen in front of her. 

He was about to take another but then her eyes shot up, widening as a familiar scent of alpha filled the room. 

Now the manager looked nervous the way people normally did when a cop wanted to ask them questions. She stood up from her desk and held out a hand, “Good afternoon, officer, what can I do for you? Um… my name is Harriet Glass, I’m the manager here-”

“That would certainly explain why you’re in the manager’s office.” The tin can had an eyebrow raised and it completely ignored Harriet’s outstretched hand. “I assume that you’ve given my partner all pertinent information?” 

“I- I-” She looked at the detective as if pleading for him to help her get out from under the intense scrutiny of the alpha. Gavin felt a great deal of satisfaction from her obvious misery and when the android turned to get the answer Gavin shook his head no. 

Nines crossed his arms, “This is a serious matter, Miss Glass. I would appreciate it if you would tell detective Reed what you know.”

She stalled like a deer in the headlights. Gavin could almost see a buffering loading symbol in the center of her forehead as she struggled to find something to say that would seem adequate to the posh android. 

“Now, please.” It was a demand phrased like a simple request. Powerful words that filled up the silence of the room and just about made Gavin’s heart skip a beat. If the detective were inclined to let his mind venture to such things, he might have found the android’s confidence sexy in some sort of way as he- it- as it stared down Harriet. 

“Yes, sir.” The manager finally said, before finally telling Gavin everything that she knew. 

-

Anya went missing exactly four days ago, reported by a friend at work who was quick to notice her absence. She was a fairly quiet girl, few friends and no significant other to speak of. Frustratingly, nothing was out of the ordinary from the pattern the kidnappers had set in place for Rosaline Williams. 

From workplace to workplace to workplace, Gavin and Nines questioned as many people as they could, but nothing jumped out at either of the officers. Each place yielded the same results, the same basic type of omega taken in the dark of night, after a late shift, when there would be no one to witness the crime. 

The detective frustratedly leaned his head on the steering wheel of his car as the android opened its door to get in. “Everything is just the fucking same! All the omegas are cookie cutter as all hell, what are we supposed to get out of this! What do they have in common that we aren’t seeing? What don’t they have in common? Why are they being taken?”

He put the car in drive and pulled forwards, back towards the station. It was getting late, time to head back then go home then start all this shit back up tomorrow. 

Nines looked deep in thought, eyebrows furrowed lightly, lips drawn taught, LED gently spinning to yellow. Then it flickered brightly in the falling light of dusk. “The victims, they all work in food service, or in retail!”

“Wow, thanks captain obvious, not like I was with you the whole fucking time went to each of those places-”

“No, Reed, listen to me,” The android spoke quickly, like it was excited about this supposedly new information, “They work in normal jobs. They aren’t part of the sex industry in any way shape or form.”

“Well obviously. Eden was the last sex club and it was shut down after the- Eden was shut down!” Gavin practically shouted that last part as everything suddenly clicked. 

Nines nodded its head, “No sex clubs, no omegas for hire to help alphas through ruts-”

Gavin ran a hand through his hair, “Sex trafficking. They’re being sold off to the highest damn bidder. That’s why the drugs-” 

“There was a market and these criminals are filing it… so… so why-”

“Why did Rosaline and Tucker come back.” Gavin finished. “I have no idea, but I guess we’re gonna find out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, Gavin was a dick to Connor in this chapter and I would like everyone to know that no Connor's were harmed in the making of this story. 
> 
> Second, I am really really sorry for the long wait. Legit for a week there every diddly damn time I tried to write anything my depression was like 'lol u suck and u write nothin but trash garbage' PHCKIN RUDE >:O 
> 
> Btw I'd like to thank everyone who left comments <3 each nice word was straight up like a bullet I could use to shoot the mean thoughts in the face >:3c


	3. Paperwork

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ho BOY this took me a long time to get out huh? School just started back up for me and, while classes aren't exactly kicking my ass, they are very time consuming and leave me exhausted so I often can't do my usual thing of staying up till like 2 in the morning to get the chapter finished lol... I have terrible sleeping habits heLP, that's what I did here and I gotta get up at six to workout hnnnnnnnnnnnnnn why do I do this? (for the fan fic. that's why I do it.)

When the duo got back to the station, they told Captain Fowler everything they learned during the investigations, including their speculations regarding the reason behind the rash of kidnappings. 

“We still gotta figure out where their base of operations is…” The old alpha gave a tired and lengthy sigh. “But, nice work boys, we’re making progress.” 

Nines didn’t quite smile at the praise, but Gavin could tell from looking at the android’s eyes that it was proud of itself. “Thank you, sir.” It said, voice nothing but professional, not the sort of brown-nosing type of tone that Connor liked to use, though it had its similarities. 

The Captain nodded slightly, glancing at his computer screen briefly before shutting it down for the night. “Nines, could you please escort Gavin to his car?”

“Yes, sir-”

Gavin shot both of them an incredulous look. “Um, excuse me? What the fuck? I don’t need a god damned babysitter, Fowler.”

The Captain shot Gavin one of his patented looks that told the detective that he was overreacting. Gavin could- should- just apologize for the outburst and- Fuck that shit. Fuck. That.

Gavin glared right back at Fowler.

“Reed, you fit these kidnappers M.O. I can’t be taking any risks, especially not with my officers. Effective tomorrow we should have a curfew for omegas-” 

“I can fucking take care of myself! I don’t need this piece of shit tagging along with me-’

“This isn’t an argument. I’m not about to lose an officer over something as simple as pride. Do I make myself clear?”

Gavin ground his teeth together, fighting off scathing remarks that desperately wanted to drip from his tongue. He took a deep grounding breath, then another. If this is what would make the fucking boss happy, then whatever, so be it. Fuck. He fought to keep a low growl from entering his voice as he said, “Yes, sir.” 

Fowler eyed the detective warily, like he didn’t expect Gavin to agree that quickly. Maybe a few years ago Reed would have fought harder on something like this, but now he could at least see where the captain was coming from, despite the inherent humiliation of this whole thing. 

The boss waved a hand at the two, “Dismissed. Have a good night boys.” 

The android nodded, “To you as well, sir.” Then it turned its heel and walked out the door, glancing once behind itself just to make sure Gavin was following. It stopped in front of Gavin’s desk, grabbed the detective’s jacket and coffee thermos. “Ready to go, detective?”

Gavin snarled at the fucking thing and ripped his stuff out of the android’s large hands. “I can carry my own shit, asshole.” If the detective was going to let the tin can walk him to his car, that was it. That was all this plastic prick was going to do. 

Nines’ face was stuck in some sort of comical in between of pissed off and vaguely shocked. It settled on schooling it’s features into apathetic and sighed softly. “So that’s a yes then?”

“It’s a fucking yes.”

The walk to Gavin’s old car was a quiet one. Apparently, the plastic prick thought that he wasn’t in the mood for further conversation. Good. He wasn’t.

Gavin threw his stuff into the backseat, then scoffed at Nines, who was still standing like a damn British guard, all stoic and serious and shit.”You can go now.”

It blinked, then nodded, “Have a nice night, Detective.”

Gavin said nothing in return as he climbed into the driver’s seat.

-

Gavin was fucking exhausted as soon as he came home. 

Like most nights he made himself a gourmet meal of chicken flavored ramen noodles and cheap whiskey. With a bowl and a glass in hand, he threw himself down on his old sagging couch and quietly said hello to Dennis, his little Western Hognose, who was already sound asleep in his terrarium perched on a nearby end table. 

The little snake was really the closest thing that came to family for Gavin nowadays. Closest thing that came to a companion, really. Which was fine. Not that the detective minded, not now anyway. 

He didn’t really talk to his family. Well, there was the occasional Christmas Card, but that was it, and Gavin figured that it hardly counted. He lost touch because, well, his mom was never too keen on him doing something so… unbecoming of- of-

Gavin drank the rest of his room temperature whiskey in one quick swig, then turned on the TV. Background noise was nice. Kept his mind occupied and away from fucking bullshit. Away from echoes of too many family fights. Away from his mom’s rants, from his dad’s mostly- mostly- empty threats. Away from his fucking perfect alpha of a brother-

Gavin got up and poured himself another amber glass. 

-

When his alarm blared loudly at six, it felt like Gavin’s head was about to split in half. Fucking hangovers fucking suck. 

He groaned as he rolled off of his lumpy couch that his drunk self had apparently deemed as an appropriate bed for the night. His back felt all kinds of out of whack and his shoulder blades ached from how they had rolled together in his restless sleep. 

He meandered over to the bathroom and snatched his meds off of the counter. Grateful to several old surgeries for the fact that he only had to take two pills instead of what used to be a solid dozen. By itself the medicine sat uncomfortably in his stomach, almost making him feel like he was about to throw up, but not quite. 

He made sure to remember to feed Dennis, meanwhile that queasy feeling in his guts got progressively worse. Made sure to water all the little succulents that Tina kept giving him for his birthday, despite his firm protests. His fingers brushed over the fat leaves of the one he called Humphrey. Regardless of his claims to hate the tiny things, he kept all six of them alive and happy. 

His stomach felt seriously off as he moved the tiny Mexican Snowball to a sunnier spot. Gavin set the plant down and walked into the kitchen. 

Gavin could just make himself a cup of coffee and he’d be fine. 

-

The coffee seemed to do the trick on his sick stomach, but soon that ill feeling gave way to hunger, thanks to the only food he’d eaten in the past twenty-four hours being complete garbage.

Gavin didn’t have time for breakfast, as per usual. And, as per usual, it made the monotonous paperwork he was forced to do all the worse. He had to fill out reports detailing the interviews he did yesterday and instead of focusing on what the small mousy waitress had said in that greasy spoon, he was thinking of the pie that had sat in the little glass sill. 

He rolled his shoulders, annoyed at his predicament. He wasn’t getting anything done at this rate. He shot out of his desk and headed off to find something in the breakroom. 

There was nothing. It was probably Chris’ turn to buy donuts but the asshole just had to be gone for the week. The detective knew that six cups of coffee wasn’t good for him, especially not now that his hand already had fucking tremors, but whatever, it staved off his hunger until he would get a break for lunch. Three hours, he could make it that long for god’s sake.

-

Two hours and forty-five minutes left to go and detective Reed was half starved. 

He’d at least completed six of the eleven reports he needed to get done with. He’d made a lot of progress. Only five more to go, Gavin could do this, it’s just paperwork- really fucking boring paperwork, but still.

Then he felt exactly Sisyphus with that damn rock when he watched as Nines approached and place a small stack full of papers on his desk. “These need your testimony.”

“Are you fucking serious?”

The android looked taken back for no more than a second, then, mercifully, it decided that maybe Gavin didn’t need another lecture on what language was proper for the workplace. “You talked to different people most of the time, we need to be through.” It glanced over at the small stack of finished documents on the corner of the detective’s crowded desk, “May I take those to give my statements?”

Gavin rolled his eyes, “Knock yourself out, tin can.” 

Five minutes later- five fucking minutes later- the android came back with the reports, all finished perfectly no doubt. It walked on over to Fowler’s glass office, then left the room and disappeared to somewhere else. Gavin damn near snapped his pencil in half. 

He clenched his jaw shut and put the pedal to the metal on the reports. No way in hell was he about to let that tin can make him look bad. 

-

One report to go, Gavin had managed to fill out the rest in record time. 

Nines came by to grab the reports the detective had finished quickly and quietly, Gavin paid it no mind, he had important work to focus on after all. 

He vindictively smiled at those last pieces of paper stapled together as he finished the last of his statements. He turned in his swivel chair to place it in the same spot he’d been leaving them for the android to pick up, however, sitting in the relatively clear space was a blueberry scone. 

He looked around the office, shocked, no way in hell would anyone do that. Tina maybe, if it was his birthday… maybe. Then his eyes settled on Nines who was sitting in his own almost compulsively clean desk with nothing but a pencil cup sitting perfectly in the center. The android’s head shot down back to its paperwork like ti just got caught looking at- at-

No fucking way. It didn’t-

It did. 

What the fuck. 

-

Gavin and Nines had been interviewing more job places that yielded basically the same information as all the others before. The omega taken wasn’t the most popular and wasn’t disliked, a wallflower, wasn’t deemed- or noticed to be- missing for a while. 

Always, the beta or alpha managers of those places always got under the detective’s skin. “Omegas don’t show up to work sometimes, heat, you know how they are.” That’s what they would say to Nines with a roll of their eyes and a slight shrug, eyes barely shifting to the detective like Gavin was some sort of burden or child. Like he wouldn’t be able to understand that they were talking about him when he was right fucking there. 

Like they were fucking so smart and knew all about what heats are like. Some going so far as to act like the curse of biology was a pleasurable vacation, and not literal hell. 

Like their workers were just gone off, having fun or whatever the fuck they think in their thick skulls, and not scared out of their minds where ever they were. Lost and alone and drugged and helpless. 

He was at the end of his rope, probably seconds from clawing the current manager’s eyes out after the alpha he was talking to acted like he was nothing until Nines spoke up for Gavin and introduced him with that cold as ice voice that it only used when it was pissed off. As the detective walked out to answer the call he couldn’t help the crooked grin that spread across his face as he scented a nervous anxiety coming from the manager. 

-

Another omega showed back up, at work of all places, like nothing happened, like it hadn’t just been gone for several weeks. Tessa Brooks, android, WR400, Gavin figured it probably worked in Eden before the whole thing got shut down, but Brooks didn’t have any memory of the club due to systematic memory wipes. 

So he and Nines were in a small back room of some health food store, talking to Brooks, trying desperately to get some more information about who the hell was running this shit show. 

Something in its system seemed off, by the way it kept swaying on its feet, back and forth over and over again like clockwork. Never about to fall, but it seemed like it came close several times. 

Nines’ LED flickered to a brilliant yellow as it scanned Brooks, it looked over at Gavin, “She’s fine, she’s just has a damaged bicomponent #9402r, it controls balance and higher motor function.” 

Gavin didn’t miss the way the WR400 crowded closer to him, away from Nines. He took a quiet deep breath, lungs filling with the slight scent of artificial fear, so close enough to the real thing he had to wonder who the fuck got paid to design something as wrong as that. He motioned to a swivel chair that rested near Brooks, “You can sit down if you want, you know.”

It shook its head slightly, “I’m perfectly fine detective, thank you.” It warily eyed the large alpha in the room and shifted some more, farther away from Nines now.

“Okay… What can you tell me about what happened?”

Brooks shook its head, “I don’t- I’m not sure, see- I… I’m not sure.”

“What do you mean you’re not sure?” Gavin pushed, voice probably coming off harder then it should have. 

Brooks looked startled, “I’m just- It’s not clear, I’m not supposed to- I don’t know.”

Gavin’s eyebrows bunched together and he was about to push farther when Nines took a small step forwards. “May I try?” It held out a hand to Brooks, palm up and as non-threatening as possible. And still, the WR400 scooted back. 

Gavin also gave the large alpha an odd look, obviously, it could tell that Brooks was scared, so the android was just trying to help as best as it could. Might as well give it a chance, right? “Nines won’t hurt you, it’s okay, Tessa.” 

Gavin wasn’t one hundred percent sure about that statement. Didn’t trust the android all that much, or at all really. But if this is how things were going to go this time around, then the detective could at least try to play along. 

Brooks looked at Gavin, as if for confirmation, and he nodded once like he was totally certain about the whole thing. 

It glanced back at Nines who had made no further move forward, respecting Brooks’ space right now more than anything. Tessa took a hesitant half step forward and held out it’s much smaller hand to Nines. 

The WR400 squeezed its eyes tightly shut as Nines reached out and grabbed it’s hand as if what was about to come next was going to be painful. 

Gavin watched with some sort of almost odd fascination as his partner’s forearm lost all of its pale pigment and turned into what looked like actual plastic. Bright pearly white and light gray faded through the tan with a small line of bright blue in between. Brooks did the same. 

Now both of the android’s eyes were closed, but Nines seemed to be concentrating and Brooks just barely seemed to be holding it together. Its original sway was becoming a lot more dramatic as she started to pull away from Nines now, eyes shooting open with raw panic. 

Nines dropped Brooks’ arm. Gray eyes wide as Gavin scented the bitter fear of an alpha intermingling with the acid smell of Tessa’s mounting terror. 

Nines turned to Gavin, “There’s a warehouse, by the docks. I don’t- I don’t know which number, but it’s- it’s- I’ll know it when I see it. Here.” It held out a hand and a little hologram appeared just above his palm. The old building seemed to be the only one not completely falling apart, though the rusting from the humid air was bad and gave the exterior an almost bloodied look. 

Brooks was making this weird clicking noise now, it’s shifting now like a pendulum gone completely mad. “I didn’t want to remem- now they’ll know that I know- they’ll get me! They’ll get me like they got Henry and Tu- they’re gonna get me. I wasn’t supposed to remember.”

The WR400 was crying, tears streaming down it’s face as it clutched its arms tightly to its chest like it was trying to hold itself together and failing. 

Gavin approached the android carefully, “Tessa, listen to me, they’re not going to get you. I promise. We’ll get you some protectors, the best that we have, okay?” She was still hiccuping and tears still streamed freely down her cheeks but she nodded, a bit too fast and jerky, but she nodded nonetheless. “Nines, call… call Connor and Tina. Tell them to get down here now, and tell Anderson not to come, no more alphas, you got that?” 

Nines nodded, LED spinning yellow again as he dialed, the sound of his voice muted slightly by Gavin’s now racing heart at the prospect of finally having an actual lead. He leaned forward and tried to steady Brooks who was still swaying back and forth. “Listen, when they get here, they are going to move you to a safe spot, alright? They’ll keep you safe and secure, but you have to trust them, okay?”

Brooks clung onto the sleeves of his jacked like they were lifelines and nodded, slowly this time. 

“Okay, good.”

-

Connor and Tina arrived just minutes later and immediately helped get Tessa to a car so they could move her to a safe house. 

Connor was telling Brooks something about Hank’s dog and the WR400 seemed to enjoy it, or at least was distracted by it, as the scent of fear in the room was substantially going down. 

Tina walked over to Gavin, “You gonna find those fuckers who did this?”

“I think we already have.”

Tina smirked, “Give ‘em hell.”

-

Backup was shortly on it’s way behind Gavin’s car as he sped down to the docks, looking for the old rusted building. It didn’t take long for them to find it, it’s old withering skeleton stuck out of the debris tall and perversely proud over its graveyard. 

He parked a fair ways away from the building, not wanting to attract attention. He and Nines walked out of the car slowly, quietly, towards the old warehouse. Though the quiet part was difficult due to an array of broken glass spread out on all sides. 

As they got closer, Gavin could see that all the lights were turned off in the building, though there oddly was a small thrum of bass that kept getting louder and louder as he came closer. It was almost like a heartbeat that his legs through the soles of his feet. There was something underground. 

Nines approached the old metallic door first, gun taken out of its holster and confidently gripped in its left hand. The android opened the door with caution, but the inside was just dark. Up here was quiet though the bass still drummed on from below. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Gavin could make out the multitude of cars parked in neat little rows. 

The android and the detective turned towards each other, as if to ask if they were thinking the same thing. Then they headed further into the heart of the building. 

-

The stairs really weren’t hard to find. All Gavin had to do was follow the stronger smell of alpha as it spun its way around the building. It made sense for it to be most concentrated where the most traffic was, after all. 

Nines shook its head at the stairs. “We should wait for backup, this isn’t safe.” His voice was nothing more than a hushed whisper, pitched only just loud enough for Gavin to be able to hear it. 

Gavin frowned, “Look tin can, I’m not about to waste another fucking second, we need to end this thing. Now.”

The android looked almost like it was about to stop him, so Gavin just started creeping down the stairs by himself. Shortly after he heard hushed footsteps following along.

The stairs went a surprising way down, fifty feet or more. And the further down he got, the louder the heavy EDM became and the more it smelled like heat and rut. It unsettled his stomach, made him uneasy as not just the smell of sex was there, but also the toxic scent of heavy chemicals and muted fear. 

He fought off a low growl that threatened to rip out of his throat. He needed to be quiet, despite the thundering music. He couldn’t risk giving himself away and compromising the mission. This was too important. 

He hit the lower floor and his eyes widened as he took in the makeshift underground club before him. Neon signs were everywhere, casting the entire room in sharp shadows and starkly contrasting bright color. There was a bar in the corner, and there were large glass cylinders, like the ones that used to be in Eden, though these are empty. The large space gave way to a multitude of rooms, most doors closed, but Gavin could still barely hear what was going on inside those locked rooms. 

His nose stung as he made his way over to the first room he saw. He was about to kick the whole fucking door down when there was this sharp feeling in his neck. 

He tried to turn around swiftly to shoot his attacker in the face but his body didn’t move fast enough and he was tripped to the floor. Limbs felt too heavy and awkward when he tried to stand up again. He’d been drugged. He didn’t see it coming and he wasn’t paying close enough attention, and fuck- fuck fuck fuck fuck. 

The man who stabbed him with the needle flipped him on to his back. The alpha… bodyguard? The bodyguard sneered and said something to the detective, but he couldn’t focus because he was too busy trying to get his arms to work in his favor again. Too busy trying to fight as he felt that familiar and terrifying warmth pooling in his stomach. 

He could do nothing but growl as try to move backward with his legs as the alpha reached forwards, towards the waistline of Gavin’s jeans. The world was spinning and things started blurring at the edges. 

His heart was pounding, beating too fast, and he felt like he was about to puke and he could feel warm slick soaking his boxers and the world was bathed in a hazy cloud and he wasn’t about let this happen, this wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be. But it was, it was, it was. 

He couldn’t even fucking breathe but he still kicked as hard as he could at the attacker.

The bodyguard just chuckled at the attempt then two large and pale hands grabbed the sides of the man’s head and twisted it to the side with one solid and sickening crack. 

And the man fell. 

And there Nines was, covered in blood, nose leaking a dark and beautiful navy blue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WORRY NOT, I'M ALREADY WORKING ON THE NEXT CHAPTER BECAUSE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FOREVER I ACTUALLY HAVE AN IDEA ABOUT WHAT IM DOING
> 
> Tysm for all the comments on the last chaper <3 they all made my day! So thank you guys for being supportive and sweet even though I take like 52 years to update, it means a lot to me ^^


	4. Heat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ME, POST TWO CHAPTERS ACTUALLY CLOSE TO EACH OTHER? 
> 
> it's more likely than you think >:3c
> 
> (I also stayed up late to write this one! Fuckin worth it)

Gavin could hardly raise the pistol that had fallen to his side, but he still did. Arms shaking violently with the strain of the task. His fingers felt far too clumsy to find the trigger, but he did. He could barely see, the world was spinning, twisting and turning violently and the lights blurred and all that was left in the center of his fading sight was Nines, still standing over the dead body, arms held up and drenched in crimson, some flecked onto his- it’s, it’s… it’s bleached white jacket. Looking like Gavin’s worst nightmare and greatest dream, beautiful in the glare of neon. 

“Don’t take another fucking step.” And Gavin could tell that his stinted words had a sharp whining edge but now wasn’t the time to care. He didn’t need to care, as Nines stopped trying to move closer to him. 

The android said something, but it just added to the bass of the thundering music. The calming vibrato was like silk that wrapped around his mind, through his ears, through his chest, through his soul. The tremors of his hands worsened as his hips canted forward against his own volition, searching for something that wasn’t there and Gavin hated himself so fucking much. 

Nines took a step forward, palms open, hands to its side, like it was trying to prove that it wasn’t a danger. Like it didn’t just snap a human neck like it was a toothpick. Less than. 

In closer proximity the detective could hear what it was that Nines kept saying, low and hushed, “I’m not going to hurt you, Gavin. I promise, I’m just going to get you somewhere safe. Please.” It repeated that over and over again like a smooth chant. Like the soft words were going to make Gavin drop his gun. With shaking hands the detective did his best to keep his pistol trained on the spot where he knew the android’s heart was.

Gavin’s legs were shaking too as he kept trying to move away from the alpha. He could smell Nines now, iron, plastic, paper, scone, leather, cotton. Like alpha, vaguely familiar at this point. Like alpha, strong and powerful and able to make the pain just go away if Gavin just-

Gavin knocked the hammer of his gun back. He had six bullets, he just needed to get one hit. 

“Gavin, it’s not safe out here, I need to move you to a room. I’m not going to do anything besides that, alright? It’s okay.” Nines crouched down and Gavin put the gun to its forehead. 

The android didn’t make a move to put shove gun away, just looked at Gavin with pleading eyes. Beautiful gray things that looked like molten silver. The vulnerability in its gaze sent a shiver down Gavin’s spine. He swallowed, “If you try anything you’re fucking dead.” 

“Understood.” 

Nines hooked an arm across Gavin’s shoulders and the other under his knees. As it stood, the detectives stomach dropped and he felt sick. His arms shook and his whole body was to hot, so fucking hot and Nines’ hands were nice and cool and strong and safe. He was so close now, he could smell the android, he could touch if he wanted. Ice against his fire, and it was so close, so close, all he had to do was drop the silly gun and he could touch and feel as much as he wanted. And he wanted, he wanted, so bad, just…

He dropped the pistol slightly and nuzzled into the strong chest next to his head. Nines smelled like heaven and hell and all the things Gavin should never want, but he could have, it was right here, right in front of him and he could just-

His back arched again, slick spreading down his legs at the thought of what he could do. A pleading whine escaped his lips, it hurt, it burned, and he could just-

No, no, no, no, no, no. This wasn’t him. 

Gavin pulled his head away and brought the gun back up with the last of his strength. A vicious growl forced its way though the pathetic whining. 

This wasn’t him, this wasn’t him, this wasn’t him, this wasn’t him.

The edges of the world kept on blurring and spinning and fading in and out, but the alpha was still in the epicenter of it all, muttering sickly sweet nothings that made Gavin’s heart skip in the worst ways possible. 

Gavin was set down on something so soft it almost hurt his burning and sensitive skin. He couldn’t breathe again, and his arms had finally given out, laying uselessly at his sides. Cool hands took off his leather jacket, then draped something blissfully cold over him. 

“You’ll be safe here.” Came a deep voice, then the door closed, then he was alone in the strange room. Then everything turned black. 

-

Strong arms pick him up again. 

His mouth tastes like bile. 

So hot. 

He’s empty and so hot and it’s fire beneath his skin and he can’t stand it and he knows he needs to be brave and he can’t stand it. 

Please, please, please, please, help, please. Please-

A velvet voice tells him no or something like it and whines fill the air, needy and pleading and they shouldn’t be his own but he knows that they are. 

Strong arms bring him home and set him on that bed and then are gone all too soon. 

He’s burning and dying and agony fills every gasping breath. He’s alone and he can’t help but cry and whine and hate as he pulls that bloodied white jacket across his face, that smell awful and glorious and made of perfect sin. 

-

On and off, in and out, the world comes and goes. Out of feverish nightmares and wet dreams into the cruel grip of reality. The world burns as he fucks into his hand, vibrator stuck on the highest setting, as he can do nothing but whine and moan and bury his face into that still somehow cool jacket, stuck on the precipice of release from the pain and want and suffering, but never there, never quite there, always never quite there. 

\- 

Ice cold water bottles and energy bars keep appearing in his room. 

The slight smell of alpha lies underneath the sickeningly sweet scent of his heat. It lingers and drives him mad because he knows relief is so close, if he could just-

Thoughts of what Nines’ hands would feel like instead of his own. The real thing for once instead of this toy that never helped. What he would taste like. What his teeth would feel like against the back of Gavin’s neck-

He bites into that wreck of a jacket and tries to stop thinking. 

-

Hell lasts for six days. 

Six days for a normal omega is unsafe, highly dangerous due to the high fever. 

For an omega who’s been through surgery and should only have soft heats, well, that’s practically unheard of. 

Nines drives Gavin to the hospital in silence. The detective doesn’t want to talk, and his partner seems to respect that. Silently, Gavin thanks Nines for that fact. 

So Gavin gets an IV drip to replace missing fluids and vitamins, it’s going to take a little over an hour. With a huff, the detective settles into the uncomfortable hospital bed and prepares for the long wait. He’s been gone from work too long, he needs to get back onto that case as soon as fucking possible. 

Nines sits down on a nearby waiting chair, looking unusually like he- it… looking like he felt out of place, like he didn’t quite know how he was supposed to sit or where he was supposed to place his hands. 

Gavin takes a deep breath and acts like his heart doesn’t still have some sort of reaction to the metallic smell of the alpha. He thinks that it would be best if he tired to distract himself and the android with anything besides the giant elephant in the room. “So… What happened in the warehouse?” 

Nines’ eyes shot up and he adjusted in his seat for like the fifth time in twenty seconds. “There was only the one exit in the underground club, so the DPD now has seventeen alphas under arrest. Twenty-two omegas were retrieved and taken to the hospital for immediate treatment. However… that means that nine are still missing.”

Gavin nodded his head slightly, they saved people on that mission. Not everyone, there was still a lot more work to be done on the case, but they brought people back to safety. Small victories. However there was still one thing that hung the detective up, many of the doors were closed, there was no one on the main floor, and he assumed that there were probably only one alpha to omega in a room. “Only seventeen alphas?”

Nines’ eyebrows lowered and his lips downturned into a barely perceptible scowl, “Six deaths. Including the bouncer, of course.”

The detective swallowed and cleared his throat. “Oh yeah… of course.”

-

The doctor told Gavin that he shouldn’t go back to work for at least a few days to get his strength back. The detective more or less told the lady to kiss his ass and went back to the precinct with Nines as soon as he had that damn drip taken out of his arm. 

At the DPD, people were giving Gavin a wider berth than usual. Eyes locked on to him as he made his way to his desk, but this was different. There wasn’t and sort of malice in these stares, just pity. And that was so much worse. The detective made a point at snapping at a young beta who bumped into him on accident. See? He was still the same old asshole, talk about that you fucking gossiping cunts. 

He flopped into his desk and started setting shit up for when he went and interviewed either the alphas in custody or the omegas in hospitals. 

As he worked, Tina popped by his desk and set a small sphera cactus on the table. Gavin cocked an eyebrow, “It’s not my birthday.”

“I’m just happy you’re alright, dumbass.”

Gavin rolled his eyes and grabbed at the plant, running a thumb across its spikes, “Of course I’m alright. Why wouldn’t I be?”

She shot him a withering look, two parts disbelieving, one part just sad, “Gav, don’t make me answer that question.”

He glared at her then let his eyes drop to the cactus. What happened was not fucking alright, and if he didn’t want to talk about it, if he wanted to treat it like it was nothing because it should be fucking nothing, just another part of the past at this point, then that was fine. Maybe that was the wrong question to ask here… almost certainly it was. “I’m alive, that’s all that matters.”

She opened her mouth like she was going to say something but before she could her head turned slightly towards the glass box of Fowler’s office. She sighed and it was a tired thing, Gavin was surprised that he was only just now seeing the bags under her eyes. “The captain wants ya, Reed.”

Gavin stood and gave her a smile that might actually be able to pass as something friendly, “Thanks for the dumb plant, Tina.”

She crossed her arms, a tiny smirk tugging at her lips, “You’re dumb.”

“Nice comeback.”

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck you too.”

Inside the big office, the captain looked as grumpy as always and its nice to see that something’s never change. Fowler made a gesture for Gavin to sit and he took a chair next to Nines who seemed to have regained some of his lost composure from before, back straight in perfect posture and hands loosely clasped in his lap. 

“Gavin... “ The captain started, voice uncharacteristically soft and hesitant, “Against my better judgement, I let you work on this case. As it has proven too dangerous in the past week, I can no longer, with good conscious, let you keep on going with it.”

“What?” Gavin’s voice was brittle and hushed, he couldn’t fucking believe it. He turned to Nines for support but the android didn’t look back, instead his eyes were locked on to some spot on Fowler’s desk, unblinking. He fucking knew? That piece of fucking shit-

“It would be unwise of me to keep putting you in compromising situations like the one a week ago. I can hand this over to Hank and Connor and-”

“I helped bring twenty-two victims back and you’re telling me that I can’t fucking help any more?”

The captain looked at the ceiling like he was asking for patience, “You were drugged-”

“Anyone could have been drugged! For fuck’s sake, Fowler-”

“Reed,” The old alpha snapped, hand coming down on his desk in a firm fist, “This isn’t because you’re an omega. This is because you rushed in to save the day without backup and damn near got yourself killed. That was the exact sort of thing that I was trying to avoid on this case! And it would have been avoidable too, easily! Instead, we have a messy situation on our hands what with the potential murders-”

“Self defence, captain.” Nines piped up in that smooth voice of his.

“Fowler, please just let me finish this. Let me get the others back and I’ll go on parking meter duty or whatever the hell you want. Just… come on, Captain.”

“Six men are dead, Reed.” Fowler’s voice was low and getting closer to an exhausted growl. 

“I know just-”

“I can’t keep doing this, Gavin. You can’t keep doing things without thinking first. You have a partner for a reason, you understand that?”

“Yes, sir.”

Fowler bit the inside of his lip, eyebrows furrowed, and his finger drummed the desk lightly. “From now on, I’m having agent Nines make the calls. You can keep working, but it’s going to be under his jurisdiction.” 

Gavin didn’t like this. Didn’t like being knocked down a fucking peg like this… but he could keep working the case, bring the rest of those sick fucks to justice. He nodded his head, “Understood. sir.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the cactus' name is gonna be Oregano... in case you were wondering 
> 
> Sorry that this chapter is a little short, I just really wanted to get it out there because it was a douche move for me to leave it on a cliff hanger in that last chapter like I did ^^' 
> 
> A L S O, omegas (like gavin) who get surgeries to become infertile still get heats if they're not on suppressants, but they're a lot more manageable and I call em "soft heats" because.. that makes sense I think? Umm... I didn't really know where to write that in so there you go! 
> 
> Hnnn... so, lets be honest here, comments have sorta become my Red Ice... help feed my addiction by smashing the keyboard with your face plz tha n k


	5. Backtrack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SOME PEOPLE WANTED A NINES POV SO HERE YOU GO (I really enjoyed writing this, honestly ^^)

Gavin didn’t even see the gun pointed towards the back of his head when he finally reached the bottom of those stairs. 

But Nines did. 

In that little back room there was an alpha man in his mid forties, portly and half naked and reeking with the stench of rut, arm shaking as he held onto his pistol with one hand, the other clamped over the mouth of the nude omega girl on the bed. She stared at Nines with wide glassed over eyes, tears slowly streaming down her face. 

“Stay back, buddy.” The man’s voice wavered, barely audible over the thundering electronic music, as he twisted the gun in his hand, drawing attention to it. “I’ll shoot, I swear to God I will. Just let me be, and then I might let you have a turn, how does that sound?”

Nines took a step forwards, making sure to get a decent angle between himself, the man, and the wall. He could easily duck out of the line of bullets if the need arose. 

“That’s it…” The man said, body posture still on the defencive but his microexpressions softened, he was lowering his guard, slowly but surely, but the gun was still held high. The man’s watery eyes kept looking over Nines’ suit, trying to assess his designation and having some difficulty by the looks of it. The man tilted his head, gesturing with it towards the direction Gavin had ventured off too. “That omega you have with you, he smells great. You up for a trade?” 

“No.” The words came off as a rolling growl despite Nines’ best efforts. 

“Hey man, I was just askin’. A bitch is a bitch, I say. This little girl here is a good fuck, but it’s getting a little too vanilla if you ask me. That guy with you looks like a fighter, could be interesting.” The man gave Nines a wolfish grin, gun lowered minutely. His perceived comradery with the android made Nines’ blood boil and stomach churn. The man’s tongue flicked out from between his fat lips and Nines wanted to rip the whole thing out of the man’s mouth. 

Maybe a give him a Colombian necktie. 

Nines took a few more steps forward, now in the doorway. Preconstructed methods of escape formed themselves before his eyes. He could duck below the bed, jump out at the man before he could reload the chamber, though that might put the omega on the bed in a bad spot. He could pry the door off its hinges, though that would take at least one point seven three seconds, too long. He could just rush the man and take the gun, though Nines wasn’t sure about the man’s reaction time, too dangerous. 

The man raised the gun a little higher as Nines actually stepped foot into the room. “I’m in the middle of something here. Just go hang out with your bitch, and I can talk to you later.” He took a step back and let his hand drift off of the girls face, scooting it across the bed and landing on her stomach. 

The girl whined weakly, her vitals were shockingly low. She was being starved and dehydrated, her fever was dangerously high and her eyes were distant. The symptoms were indicative of prolonged heat, forced upon her body and held up with the use of copious drugs. Her heart rate accelerated along with her breathing as the man’s hand inched towards her belly-button. Her eyes locked themselves onto Nines, pale green things that were probably stunning when she was healthy, now they were cloudy and mottled with a haze of yellow that swam in her sclera. 

‘Help me.’ She slowly mouthed, more tears staining the bed below her head, unable to make any more sound besides that pleading and scared whine. 

The man’s hand jumped to her thigh. He grinned at the whimper that escaped her throat. He turned to face Nines, “You wanna watch?” 

Now the android was growling freely, making his way towards the man who brought both hands to his gun. “She’s mine! Go find that bitch of yours-”

“Don’t call him a bitch.” Nines snarled, now just three steps from the man who smelled like little more than fear now. “And she’s not yours.”

The man growled back, but it was a weak, scared, pathetic thing. “Then she won’t be anyone’s.” He spun and aimed the gun at her head, pulled back the hammer-

Nines was on him before he could pull the trigger. The android twisted the gun in the man’s hand, forcing him to drop the weapon. The man’s growl took on a new intensity and he lunged at the android, hand swinging, managing to make contact with Nines’ face, popping several artificial vessels in his nose, thirium now leaking profusely from the damage. 

The alpha made another attempt for the gun and Nines aimed it towards the man’s chest, then pulled the trigger. Crimson sprayed back up at Nines’ hands and stained the once impeccable white of his suit. 

The man fell to the ground with a light thud, hands clasped around the fatal bullet wound over his lung. Breath wheezing for a few seconds, but nothing more than that. His eyes glazed over, head slumping to the side, a thin trail of blood leaked from the side of his mouth. 

Nines threw the gun to the ground and went to attend to the omega on the bed. He scanned her, Lillian Oak Waters, twenty-three, works at a family diner, has been missing for two months now. “Lilly? You’re safe, it’s okay, I’m here to help.” 

He propped her up with a few pillows and pulled the soft blankets over her. Lillian’s eyes were still clouded, but the whining had stopped. Her lips quirked up in a tired simile of a happy grin, ‘Thank you.’

“You’re welcome, Lilly. There are more police officers coming soon, we’re going to get you home, okay?”

She nodded minutely, eyes drifting shut. 

“I’ll be back.” Nines turned out of the room to see how Gavin was doing-

The detective was on the ground, fallen before a tall alpha, fighting to move backwards because- because- because-

No.

Nines felt his heart drop as he scanned Gavin’s vitals. He was drugged. Still lucid and able to move, but he’d been drugged by the son-of-a-bitch standing above him. 

White hot anger lanced through Nines as he took large and silent steps towards the alpha. He didn’t hesitate when he snapped the man’s neck with more force was needed. Twisting the cervical vertebrae too far, forcing the now dead man’s neck to tilt to the side awkwardly, a gruesomely noticeable break in the spine. 

Nines could feel his initial surge of rage melt into worry as he raised his head to look at Gavin… who was now pointing a gun straight towards the android’s thirium pump. Nines raised his hands and took a tentative step forwards.

“Don’t take another fucking step.” Gavin’s voice was already weak and failing, turning more into pleading and messy whines than syllables. This was bad. 

The android kept his voice low and calm and as soothing as he could possibly make it. “Gavin, it’s me, Nines, I’m going to help you, alright. It’s going to be okay, I promise. Just please let me help you, please.” 

He took another step forwards, hands still raised peacefully. In closer proximity, Nines could smell the pre heat of Gavin. It was sweet, like freshly baked pie and caramel and homemade cookies. Layered on top of the detective’s usual scent of whiskey and dirt and blood, it combined into something that sent the android’s mind into a tailspin. It was something so alluring, so unmistakably Gavin, that he wanted nothing more than to press against that scent gland on the back of the omega’s neck until he smelled like the detective and the detective smelled like him and if he could just bite-

No. 

Nines was going to help Gavin. He was going to do right. He was going to do his job from day one, keep to his silent oath to the detective that now flashed bright red in the corner of his vision, ‘PROTECT GAVIN REED’. 

Nines turned off all aesthetic breathing processes. He would need an intake of air every five minutes to keep his systems well ventilated and properly cooled, but now he wouldn’t have to deal with the smell of Gavin. He swallowed, “I’m not going to hurt you, Gavin. I promise, I’m just going to get you somewhere safe. Please.” 

The words felt more like they were for himself than they were for the detective. But they might still work if he stays calm enough-

Gavin knocked back the hammer of his gun. 

“Gavin, it’s not safe out here, I need to move you to a room. I’m not going to do anything besides that, alright? It’s okay.” Nines crouched down to pick up Gavin, as the detective was more than likely not able to move his legs right now.

Gavin put his gun up to Nines’ forehead and the android honestly didn’t expect anything else from the strong omega. He didn’t move to take the gun away because he knew that if he did, he would be crossing a line. Completely destroying whatever trust had worked in between himself and Gavin. He wasn’t about to take that risk. 

The detective’s eyes were hard and cold and calculating, but small movements of his eyebrows revealed his stress, his worry. “If you try anything you’re fucking dead.” 

“Understood.” Because he was, because- again- Nines would never expect anything else from Gavin in this situation.

The android hooked his arms around the detective and carried him towards a vacant room that looked like it hadn’t been used in a long time, all the while pretending that he didn’t notice the way Gavin periodically melted into him. Each time the detective snapped back into himself after a few second intervals, positioning the pistol right below Nines’ jaw in warning. 

Nines pretended that he didn’t notice the peculiar feelings that welled up in his chest when Gavin would nuzzle into his chest. Pretended that the occasional mewls from the detective did nothing to him. Because they should do nothing. ‘PROTECT GAVIN REED’. That was it.

He placed Gavin down on the bed as gently as possible then checked his temperature, already rising to the high levels associated with typical heats. Nines took off the detective’s thick leather coat, then threw his coat over Gavin. It should be cool, and it should stay that way. 

As the cold cloth settled around Gavin, he closed his eyes, exhausted from this first stage of heat. 

Nines needed to go, leave the room, guard the door while he waited for backup to arrive- they should be here any minute now. A part of him didn’t want to leave his omega- the omega- didn’t want to leave Gavin alone for a second. But a larger part of him knew that it was for the best. 

He made for the door, pausing slightly before his exodus, “You’ll be safe here.” 

Then he closed the door behind himself and stood in front of if, ready for whatever came next.

-

Backup arrived on the scheduled time. Most of the alphas came peacefully enough, though a few did try to run as soon as they realized that the police had shown up. 

Fewer still tried to fight, and in doing so managed to hurt the omega with them or one of the officers on duty. Nines had to personally take care of those few crazed by their own rut and the scent of overbearing heat in the poorly ventilated space. 

Omegas are taken to ambulances, the alphas are shoved into a patty wagon. 

Fowler himself arrived on site after some of the chaos has subsided. Nines told him what had happened to Gavin.

“Holy shit…” The captain was genuinely floored. “Fuck, I need to think about how the hell I’m going to deal with this. He can’t keep putting himself in dangerous situations like this. Nines, when this is over, I don’t know if you two will be able to work the case again.” 

“Please, Captain, this case if important to Gavin, that’s why he did this. It’s my fault for not stopping him for when he rushed in, sir.”

Fowler ran a hand down his tired face, “No, it wasn’t just… I need time to think, alright?” 

Nines bit the inside of his cheek. This might be as good as it was going to get, for now at least. “Yes, sir.”

-

Nines goes back into that small room where he left Gavin. The man is still asleep when the android picks him up-

As soon as Nines is fully standing Gavin twists his head to puke, dizzy from the wicked mix of drugs racing through his system. 

Even though the still chilled jacket around the detective’s shoulders, the android can feel the skyrocketing temperature of the omega’s body heat. His own arms feel freezing and this warmth feels like a soothing balm to combat the bitter cold. 

Nines can feel his heart give a jump when Gavin leans into his chest again, this time far less aggressive and far more needy. Whines fill the air around them as the android carries his partner up the stairs and into the cool night air. 

Nines lays Gavin down in the backseat of the car, careful to avoid applying pressure anywhere near the detective’s likely sensitive hips. As he moves backwards to get into his own seat, Gavin reaches out a burning hot hand and grabs hold of Nines’ forearm. His grip is weak, his pale blue eyes are unfocused, completely seeing through the android as more begging whines spill from the detective’s lips. “Please,” the omega’s voice is heavily slurred as he tries desperately to drag Nines’ hand closer towards his chest, “Please, please, please-”

Nines knows what he’s asking. He knows what he’s asking and that’s just not something he can do. He can’t. ‘PROTECT GAVIN REED’. Nothing else. 

Nothing else. 

“I can’t, Gavin.” His heart shouldn’t feel so bad when he says that. He shouldn’t feel bad at all when he tells the detective that. But he can’t help but feel guilty as he drives to Gavin’s home, car filled with cries and needy whines the entire time. 

-

Nines has to turn off his auditory sensors on the second day. 

He walked by Gavin’s room, he didn’t know if it was a good time to enter and drop supplies. He didn’t ever know, and there had been more than a few embarrassing moments, for him at least. The date rape drugs in the detective's bloodstream meant that he likely wouldn’t be able to remember a lot of these heat filled days. 

Lucky him. 

The image of Gavin thrusting into his fist, back arched, vibrator obviously stuck onto the highest setting, all the while moaning into Nines’ jacket was probably burned into the android’s memory from here until eternity. 

He could keep himself from… reacting to something like that though. 

He couldn’t, however, stop himself from reacting to the way Gavin screamed his name in sporadic intervals throughout the second day. Voice filled with lust and need and want and pleasure and desire-

Nines performed small manual shutdowns of several parts that day. 

-

Nines was deaf and mute for four days.

When the sixth day finally rolled around Nines was not expecting it when Gavin came up behind him and tapped his shoulder. He didn’t jump, but it was close. 

Auditory systems still offline, Nines has to read Gavin’s lips to see what he says. ‘I think I need to go to the hospital. You’re driving, tin can.’ 

Then the detective disappeared into the kitchen for a few minutes, buying Nines enough time to power all his systems back on. The first sense that comes back is the smell, and the whole house smells like Gavin, pure and unadulterated and wonderful and perfect-

Nines has to shut down a few more systems, at least until he gets out of the terribly small house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're one of those brave people that likes to google things that people say you SHOULDN'T GOOGLE, then look up "Colombian Necktie" (it's creepy and gruesome and don't say that I didn't warn you). 
> 
> Yo, if you got something to shout at me, you know what to do <3  
> (when you start writing fanfic, you don't realize that you're going to get hooked on comments, it's basically drugs at this point, please feed my wild addiction)


	6. Lynwood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My muse hit me up randomly and I slammed this baby out in one night, holy shit  
> (*highfives myself even though I haven't worked on this fic for far too long*)
> 
> THANK YOU MUSE, ILY
> 
> btw sorry this took so long to get out, life tackled me like a whole ass football player, but I'm okay UwU enjoy <3

Gavin slammed the investigation papers down on his desk with a raged growl, “The fuck, Nines? You gonna get all bossy on me just because the god damned boss said that you could? This was my fucking case first, I get to interrogate the scumbags-”

“You’re too invested in this case,” The android crossed his arms. “Gavin, having you question them right now would only cause problems-” 

“I fucking deserve this. They fucking drugged me-”

“You think I don’t know that?” Nines’ voice was bitterly cold, jaw set, and Gavin couldn’t help but regret what he’d said. 

Gavin looked down at his old scuffed shoes. Fucking hell. He really shouldn’t feel like this- hesitant, emotional, hurt and raw, wanting to smooth out the ripples he was always so used to causing- especially not around some plastic alpha of all people. 

Plastic alpha who’d literally killed for him. Protected him at his weakest. Took care of him for a whole week.

Didn’t take advantage when others would. 

Fuck. 

He looked back up and, not for the first time, he was shocked by the emotions in the steel gray eyes before him- hurt, agitation, anger, and weary sadness- betraying the usual passive face the android normally wore. 

“Nines, I…” Gavin started, saying the words before he even knew what he was doing, or what the hell he was even trying to do. He cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair, eyes flicking right back down to his shoes and that old DPD carpet, “Well, let’s get to it then, yeah?” 

-

Gavin sat behind the two-way mirror, just watching, glaring daggers, at the man who sat in the little metal chair. His name was Shelton Lynwood, alpha, age twenty-eight, mated to an omega, Abigail Lynwood, two children, and he was sobbing. Snot and tears dripped down on to the table and the man was unable to wipe it off because his hands were cuffed behind his back. 

Gavin didn’t even try to stop the way his nose wrinkled up in disgust. 

Everyone in the room read Lynwood’s file, and they seemed to feel the same way.

Hank stood a little bit in front of Connor, a fucking weird alpha thing, like Anderson was trying to protect his omega from Lynwood who couldn’t even see them right now. 

Nines looked through the file for what must have been the fiftieth time. He was just dragging this shit out, making Lynwood squirm, prep him to confess before anyone even had to do anything. 

A lot of the other alphas had already been questioned, and none gave up anything on where the other missing omegas were. Three of the alphas were left, and they all looked like they were cracking at the seams- just like Lynwood was- though that’s not exactly an unexpected effect of being stuck in a prison cell for almost a week. 

“Well…” Connor’s eyebrow was quirked in a slightly cocky way. He drew his eyes from where he was previous staring- likely scanning Lynwood for every single scrap of information that he could- to look at Hank. The old alpha looked a little concerned for the tin can and Gavin couldn’t help but roll his eyes, though he did resist the temptation to tell the pair to get a fucking room. Connor smiled at the Lieutenant then reached out to lightly squeeze Anderson’s hand in his- ew. “Let’s just get this over with.” 

Hank sighed, “Just be careful.”

“What can he do? He’s handcuffed to a solid metal chair and I can knock him out with one punch.”

“Good point.” 

Connor let out the breath of a chuckle, and with that he left the observation room to talk to the felon, still sobbing his eyes out by the way, though there were a few indecipherable syllables in there now. He would confess to everything he’d ever done in his miserable life the second Connor opened the door, no doubt about it. And it really wasn’t like the DPD even needed a confession from this man- or any of the other alphas of that matter- they had the assholes dead to rights, caught red handed in an illegal sex club filled to the brim with illegal drugs, tied to sex trafficking. They would likely be in jail for the rest of their lives, and that wasn’t even counting the rape charges. 

So several life sentences. 

All the DPD wanted here was more information for other “Temples of Eden”, more information about the people taking the omegas and the drugs being used and any thing at all in regards to the still missing nine. The felons so far were either great actors or they were seriously fucking clueless about the inner workings of the underground club. 

Gavin guessed that it was the latter of the two. 

“Hello, Shelton. My name is Connor, I’m here to ask you a few questions, is that alright?” 

The tin can was creepy good at his job. He was nothing if not the pleasant face of a friendly omega. And Gavin knew that this politeness was an act to gain trust, the good cop game and all that, but it still got under his skin. Lynwood was a fucking monster, he didn’t deserve kindness or fake smiles. He deserved to get his fingers bashed in until he told them what they wanted to know. Then he deserved to get shot in the fucking head, save the expensive lethal injections and gas chambers for some other criminal that had the decency to not snot over everything. 

Gavin glanced at Hank and the old guy didn’t really seem to like this treatment very much either, it was honestly a surprise to the detective that these two managed to interrogate the other alphas on their own. 

Inside the interrogation room Connor fiddled with that weird quarter of his and Gavin silently thanked Kamski for not installing dumb protocols for re-calibration in Nines. 

Connor flipped the quarter, a little metal ting filled the air, but Gavin was almost entirely sure he was the only one who heard it in the observation room. Lynwood though- Lynwood would be able to hear it, faintly but still there annoying as fuck, like a metronome ticking away in perfect sync to some strange and unknown beat. 

Lynwood remained quiet, minus the soft sobs and throaty whines. 

“Please, Shelton, just a few questions. That is all I ask.” Connor’s voice was soft, not pleading, but blatantly asking for favor from the alpha. A plea to Lynwood’s instincts, and Gavin could see the way it made Hank bristle, though the Lieutenant said nothing about it. “I can promise you a reduced sentence if you cooperate with me right now.”

“He what?” Gavin snapped. No, no way was this fucker getting off easy.

“Keep your pants on, Reed.” Hank rumbled, not even turning away from the viewing window where his eyes were still trained onto Lynwood warily. “He means a reduction of five, maybe ten, years. That’s it. He’ll still be rotting in jail for life, but he doesn’t need to know that.” 

Gavin huffed, but what the fuck ever. It wasn’t a big deal. 

Connor now sat at the very end of the steel table, across from Lynwood, back hunched slightly to give him a more human and relaxed look than his normal prim and proper one. 

Lynwood took a few deep shaking breaths, then he looked up at Connor. The man’s light hazel eyes were puffy and rimmed with red from crying. His blonde hair was greasy and his t-shirt looked like it wouldn’t be of any help in the normally cool DPD. “I have a family, you know.”

His voice was almost inaudible. 

“What?” Hank raised a brow at the window, leaning forwards like the speakers would somehow magically work better if he did so. 

“He said he has a family.” Gavin huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair, this was gonna take longer than expected. “He really should have fucking thought about that before getting his dick wet.” 

The lieutenant rolled his eyes and nodded his head, apparently just as exasperated by this sobbing douche canoe as Gavin was. 

Connor nodded, eyes glancing down to the dark table like he was sorry to be a burden on this son of a bitch. “I know, and if you help us, you’ll be able to go back to them-” 

Lynwood broke back into another fit of hysterics. “T-they won’t want me back, will they? I’m gonna be fired from my j-job and I’m gonna go to jail, aren’t I?” 

Connor didn’t respond, LED flickering to yellow as he tried to think of the best way to answer.

“Aren’t I?” Lynwood growled viciously, straining against his handcuffs- though he didn’t do it hard enough to harm himself, acting the part of the tough guy but nowhere near strong enough in any sense of the word to pull it off. 

“Shelton, I’m going to have to ask you to calm down-”

“You know what? Fuck you, you stupid fucking omega. Fuck you, fuck you! You can’t prove shit- I- I- I’ll get myself a damn good lawyer and there’s not a fucking thing you can do about this!” 

Connor opened his mouth as if to respond but before he could his LED spun a brilliant yellow several times. Without a word he stood from his seat, metal scooting harshly on the linoleum with a loud squeak, then he left the room, all the while being cussed out by Lynwood- “Yeah, that’s fucking right, walk away bitch. You can’t do shit.”

Nines left the observation room, quickly and quietly switching places with Connor. Without any preamble or drama, Nines opened the door to the interrogation room roughly, only just avoiding hitting the wall with the heavy thing.

Lynwood, who was still making a fuss when Connor left the room, shut his mouth as soon as Nines entered. 

The android mutely walked towards Lynwood like a predator, obviously pissed off but taking his damn time with whatever he was planning. Gavin could practically smell Shelton’s fear from here. 

Nines opened a palm and a small hologram flickered to life. It more than obviously showed Lynwood naked on an Eden bed, knotted to the poor omega beneath him, trying in vain to hide himself from the cops as they stormed into the club.

“Mister Lynwood, it would do you well to remember that we have enough evidence to keep you in jail for the rest of your natural life. With advances in technology, I’m sure we could more than double your time behind bars. Now how does that sound?”

Shelton gaped at the android like a fish out of water and Gavin chuckled darkly from behind that wall of glass. 

“It is in your best interest to cooperate with us. Is that clear?” 

Lynwood’s breath was now labored, panicked, and he shifted restlessly in his seat, tears still spilling from his eyes, but he wasn’t wailing now- thank God. He bit at his bottom lip and did what he could to lean away from Nines who was now crowding into his personal space. He cleared his throat the tried, and failed, to meet the androids’ cold gray eyes. “W-was that a threat?”

“And what if it was?”

“T-that’s illegal you know-”

“Freedom of speech, Mister Lynwood. I would think that you of all people would be an advocate of such things. Unless, of course, you wanted to add verbal harassment to your already staggering list of charges.”

“V-verbal… harassment?” Lynwood could barely stutter out the words.

Nines held up his hand again and Lynwood’s voice came out as clear as day, “Fuck you, you stupid fucking omega… walk away bitch.”

Nines shut his hand quickly, “Now, that likely wouldn’t add anymore years to your sentence, but it would certainly get you fired. You seemed concerned about that before, yes?” The android gave a lighthearted shrug, in some other context it may have been seen as personable, "Not that your position in the work force matters very much right now."

Lynwood kept on being open mouthed and completely mute. 

Nines sighed, making it blatantly obvious that the unnecessary action was directed that Lynwood’s copious amount of stupidity. “I am going to go back to more important matters, Mister Lynwood. I will be sending my associate, Connor, back in here. I expect you to be civil. Do I make myself clear?”

Lynwood looked like he was about to piss himself. “Y-yes.”

“Good.” 

-

Lynwood ended up confessing to a lot of shit, how many omegas he fucked, why he did it, why he thought his marriage was falling apart- if Gavin had to guess it would probably have something to do with Shelton messing around with sex trafficking to get his rocks off but who knows, he’s a detective, not a clinical psychologist. 

After two hours of painful confessions and secrets meeting the light of day when they really shouldn’t have, and the only useful piece of information came at the very end. 

Shelton knew someone who kidnaps the omegas. He said there were around ten, but one was better than the zero the DPD knew about before. 

The man was named Zlatko.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah~ the joys of writing. I had to google quite a bit of stuff for this chapter, and a lot of it was used for tiny details, but that's cool, yeah?  
> Things like "death penalty methods" and "drug charges" and "jail time for sex trafficking" and "how long do people convicted of rape stay in jail" (not long enough, let me tell you what, usually around five years, but here it's a life sentence because it's the future and I do what I want- also, for any sort of human trafficking the charge is twenty years but???? I think it should be life because????? That's so fucked up, it's literally modern day slavery and twenty years may seem long but idk it doesn't seem long enough ya know??)
> 
> Omg, okay like, low key (maybe high key) Lynwood is a pretty sir name, but now I hate it, why do I do this to myself???? ahh
> 
> Thank you guys so much for the support on the last chapter!! I love you all and your comments made my day! And I know that this chapter isn't as action packed as the others, but we love some court room style drama in this house mmmhhmmm (you can thank all of Nines' dialog with Lynwood on my being in government rn and absorbing a whole lotta stuff about court and procedures and stuff- I high key love government ok??)
> 
> Scream at me in the comments, my muse may be temperamental, but I can always try to lure her out with sweet words (*sceams* it don't always work but we try!!)


	7. Zlatko

It’s not like there were many people by the name of Zlatko in the city of Detroit. 

One man seemed particularly promising. Zlatko Andronikov, beta, two-hundred pounds and six feet tall, was born on the twenty-first of September in 1991. He had a criminal record- even spent a few years in jail for embezzlement and fraud- and that just made him all the easier to find. 

The best place to start looking for the bastard was his home. So that’s where Gavin and Nines went first. To an old decrepit mansion that looked like it was about to fall to pieces any second now, located in what used to be a rich part of the city back when Detroit was known for building cars rather than androids. 

It as mid afternoon, but that didn’t mean that the house wasn’t creepy as fuck. Old rod iron gates were wrapped in ivy, parts of the fence were crooked and falling apart, and the old spear like tips of metal jutting towards the sky looked like they were about to fall off and fucking impale someone- namely Gavin- any second now. 

The house looked completely devoid of life and Gavin couldn't smell much more than mildew and rotted wood from where he now stood. He took a deep breath, “Come on, Nines… Let’s get this shit over with.” 

The android just nodded mutely and lead the way towards the old home. 

The concrete leading up to the front door was cracked, littered with weeds and dead leaves. It looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in a really long time. Gavin squared his shoulders at the top of old wooden steps that loudly protested under his weight and pulled the now wrinkled warrant out of his pocket. 

Nines knocked rather loudly on the front door, he looked like he also wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. 

No one answered.

Nines knocked harder, “Detroit Police, open up!” 

Still nothing. 

There was a long pause in between knocks and the only things that Gavin could hear was his own breaths and heartbeat and the light wind that blew around the home. He could just smell an incoming storm and his own cologne. No one had lived in this house for a long while. 

“No one’s here.” The android shrugged, unperturbed.

On a whim, Gavin decided to check the door to see if it was unlocked. 

Sure as shit. “Hey, Nines, wanna take a look around?”

The android looked at the open door, then further inside at the dark interior, he raised an eyebrow and his lips quirked up into a smirk, “Well, we do have the warrant, don’t we?”

“Fuck yeah we do,” Gavin grinned right back at him then made his way inside with Nines covering his six.

The home was obviously very nice once upon a time. Paintings and ornate wallpaper lined the walls, though now the paper was peeling on the edges from what had to be water damage. 

Floorboards creaked loudly beneath every footfall, destroying any and all possible hope of keeping this shit stealthy. Whatever, the place was abandoned, the only thing that they could hope to find here was some sort of lead. 

The kitchen held few surprises. Lots of rotten food and small mouse tracks crisscrossing through the dirty wood floors. Natural light filtered through the rather large windows, catching the dust in the air just so and illuminating whole beams in the air like spotlights. 

Other rooms lead to mildewed furniture and decaying carpet. Some windows were shattered and the glass littered the ground and crunched dramatically underfoot. 

“Gavin?” In the dining room, Nines was standing by a counter and studying something small in his hands. 

“Oh shit.”

That small thing was a pipe, one used for smoking red ice. By the looks of it, the thing was quite nice and probably really fucking expensive. It probably held some sort of DNA on the mouth piece, so they could try to find out if this Zlatko guy had an accomplice, even if it was a while back. Nines pulled out a small plastic bag and wrapped the pipe in it before gently placing the evidence in one of his rather large jacket pockets. 

After that Gavin kept on exploring the ground floor and Nines stayed close by his side. It wasn’t quite as annoying as the detective thought it was when they were first paired together. If he were to be completely honest, it was nice knowing that someone capable had his back in case he needed the help. 

Aside from the pipe there wasn’t really anything else all that interesting on the ground floor. So they went to the second floor, saving what appeared to be a creepy ass basement for last. The upper floor had more of that same mildewed furniture and rotting walls. There were holes in the roof that let pale daylight filter though, stray beams highlighting the floating dust scattered in the air. 

Rooms led to items of no consequence… until Gavin made it to the bathroom. Even from the outside, the room had smelt- for lack of a better word- off. Something was wrong about the soft scent of omega that filtered around the small space, very wrong. It was synthetically sweet like all android omegas are programmed to be, like Connor, but at the same time somehow not quite right. And Gavin couldn’t quite put his finger on what was missing, but it was missing, gone, erased or taken from the scent in the room before him and he had to know what the hell was inside of there. 

He reached for the doorknob but Nines stopped him. The android’s pale gray eyes met his, “It could be dangerous,” he reasoned, and for once Gavin didn’t feel the need to argue. Nines wasn’t doing this to be patronizing, he was doing this because he didn’t want Gavin to get hurt again, the detective knew that. It was more comforting than it should have any right to be. 

Gavin took a small step back to give Nines better access to the door. 

That awful smell hit the detective so much harder when the wooden door swung open, revealing the horror within the bathroom. In the bathtub was a legless, armless, android with it’s wiring and biocomponents out of its body, shimmering that deep thirium blue in the soft light. It’s chest cavity was ripped apart and a small bird’s nest was settled where one of its lungs should have been. It’s eyes were black as pitch with spidering ebony trails streaking across its cheeks and down its neck. 

What should have been a relaxing omega smell- hints of caramel and chocolate and a warm summer’s day- was tainted by the acid smell of thirium and still, something else, blank spaces in the terrible mix of sweet and toxic. 

The head of the thing shifted, its LED flickered to life with a bright yellow flash, eyes sightlessly locked onto Gavin and oh dear God how was this poor thing not dead? 

“Master?” It’s voice must have been lyrical before, but now the melody was ruined by the sounds of metal against metal, of glitches and frayed wires hidden in its throat. 

Nines took a step forwards, the sound of his footstep drawing the attention of the mangled android. “Hello-”

“You are not the Master, no no no no.” It damn near hissed, metallic clicks in the back of it’s throat relaying its annoyance. “You are one of his projects, yes yes. Aren’t you? Oh, yes.”

Nines’ eyebrows furrowed, “No, I’m here with my partner. We can help you-”

“Master will make you pretty like me, yes yes yes he will. Alpha, alpha, strong alpha, no no no, omega, omega like me. I was like you, yes, but the Master made be beautiful and he doesn’t want me to leave, no no no, he loves me, oh yes.” 

Nines took another step forwards, “Your master is not here right now, how long has he been gone?”

The android in the tub shrank away from Nines as best as it could, it’s head now leaning against the porcelain wall of the tub. “He has been gone too long, too long. But he will be back, yes yes yes. He did not forget me, oh no.”

Nines leaned down and went to press his hand- now that pure white of plastic- to the other android’s shoulder. 

“Nines…” Gavin started, not quite sure if a connection between the androids was really the best thing right now. God only knew what system the mystery android was running on to make it behave so oddly, or make it’s scent so strangely terrible. 

The android in the tub looked up at Nines, blindly staring, “You should listen to your human, oh yes yes yes. Alphas are bad listeners, but you should obey, yes yes. Omegas are the best listeners, let the Master help, yes yes. He helped me. He can help you, oh yes.”

Nines chose not to listen to either Gavin or the android, he gently placed his hand on the others shoulder. He closed his eyes and the android in the tub looked distraught but it said nothing and it didn’t try to move away. Nines’ LED blinked to yellow, his eyebrows lowered with what Gavin could only assume was concentration. 

The smell of rain was more prominent now, it was only a matter of time before the storm really got going. The world was quiet save for the howling wind just overhead. 

The pseudo peace lasted only a few seconds but to the detective the time seemed to drag on painfully slow. 

When Nines took his hand off the android’s shoulder, his eyes were open and wide, staring at that damaged android with poorly concealed panic. 

“Nines?” Gavin’s voice was soft as his stomach twisted slightly. Something was wrong- really really wrong here- and he had no fucking clue what it was. 

“Oh yes yes yes. You saw what gift Master gave me, didn’t you-”

“What he did to you was not a fucking gift!” Nines’ LED switched from yellow to red fast and his voice gave more of that raw fear away. It sent a chill up Gavin’s spine. Nines could get concerned, sure. But scared? This scared? 

The android gave a knowing- creepy as fuck- smile to Nines. “Master knows that I am beautiful, oh yes. And he’ll make you beautiful too, oh yes. Oh yes, just you wait, you are an android and you will be beautiful. Omega and pretty. Oh yes. Oh so pretty-”

“Your master isn’t going to be doing anything to me, he’ll be dead if he tries.” Nines’ words came out as a gnarled growl that emanated from somewhere deep in his throat. He’d seemed to have gathered most of his composure, but his flickering LED still gave his emotions away. 

“Master would not like that, no no no. Androids must obey. Androids are created to obey. Alphas do not obey. They were not created to. Master did not like that, oh no no no he didn’t. He can make you beautiful-”

The android kept talking to no one in particular as it turned it’s head to the sky. What it was saying was basically gibberish to the detective at this point. The thing was obviously crazy and it was equal parts sad and intensely disturbing. 

Nines let out a growling huff as he turned to face Gavin. His eyes were cold, steely gray that dredged up what was better left forgotten from a week ago- “Gavin, go downstairs. I’ll meet you in the basement.”

“No way in hell- Why the fuck should I go down there?”

“Zlatko must have left something that will let us know where he went. There was nothing up here and nothing on the ground floor, that leaves the basement.”

“I’ll check the backyard first, got it?” Most likely there wouldn’t be anything out there, but it was a hell of a lot better than going into that murder basement by himself. Gavin would like to think that he’d seen enough horror movies to be smart about shit like this. 

Nines gave a small nod, his LED still flickering slowly, but this time that yellow was mixed with a pleasant pale blue. “I’ll meet you out there, then.”

Gavin glanced down at the android in the tub then back up at Nines, “What are you gonna do?”

“I’m going to shut him off. He’s in pain but there’s a good chance that some people at Cyberlife can fix him. I messaged Connor, he and Hank should be here soon to help us take him back.” 

Looking at the android, Gavin really didn’t know if fixing it was honestly in the cards… but if there was a chance then… “I’ll see you down there.” 

-

Blood. Gavin was expecting to see some weeds in the backyard. Maybe some dead leaves and rusted metal bits, but not a giant stain of dried blood that streaked from the edge of the backyard to the flung open outer doors that must have lead to the basement- as if this whole abandoned house thing wasn’t already creepy enough. 

It was old, really old. Whoever it belonged to, they were a beta, that was the only thing Gavin could pull from the scent that had naturally faded over time, washed partially away by several storms and half masked by the one that was fast approaching. 

There was a once very nice shotgun currently sitting at his feet. He didn’t want to touch it just in case Nines could pull prints from it. It was rusted from its time spent in the elements and covered slightly by viney weeds that wrapped themselves around the shoulder stock and the barrel had even more blood on it. 

Weapons were scattered seemingly everywhere. There were dirty knives and even a small hatchet hidden in the tall grass. If it could be assumed that the blood all came from the same person… well, they didn’t have a very good time by the looks of things. 

The crunch of dead grass came from somewhere to his side. The strong smell of alpha as well as a tint of thirium that hadn’t been there before. “Have you found anything?” 

Gavin pointed at the shotgun, “Yeah, I’d say so.” 

Nines bent down and grabbed the gun, scratching at some of the dried blood before putting some of that rust covered power in his mouth- fucking nasty. Why on earth those Cyberlife nerds thought that oral processors were a good thing, he had no idea. Nines’ head tilted slightly as he brought his fingers away from his mouth. “This blood belongs to Zlatko.” He sounded sure, yet his body language was slightly unsettled. 

Gavin looked around at the large space, at the other deep patches of old blood. “All of it?”

“I’ll check.” 

And he did, and it was still gross. 

His eyebrows furrowed as he studied a fifth patch, “It’s all Zlatko’s. But… it’s so much blood, he should be dead.”

“How old is the blood… how old is all of it?” It there were different time stamps then maybe-

“It’s all from a few months ago, same night and similar time. There’s an interval of approximately ten minutes between the blood on the gun and the blood by the cellar doors.”

Yeah, Zlatko should be six feet under right now. He was a bigger guy, he had more blood than the average person… but still, there was a metric fuck ton of blood. And yet, he was alive, he didn’t have a death certificate. Well, that didn’t always mean that the suspect was still around, Zlatko didn’t have family or very many friends to notice his disappearance… But Lynwood said… But Lynwood wasn’t exactly a model of honesty, now was he?

Well, there was still one more place to check even though Gavin would really prefer not to. “Let’s go check the basement then, huh?”

-

Gavin was glad that he opted to come down here with his partner. He thought it was gonna be a murder basement, like creepy old boxes, maybe a few cobweb covered mannequins staring blankly into his soul… But the mansion still surprised the detective in the worst of ways. The old cellar legitimately looked like a torture chamber and taking the android from the tub into consideration that really wasn’t a big stretch. 

Whatever was held in the ominous cells before was long gone now, leaving only scratches on the walls and busted up chains and spare android parts here and there. 

Like the bathroom, the basement smell was off. Wrong in some way. 

Gavin turned to face Nines because he really needed to be sure that he wasn’t just going crazy or getting paranoid over all this shit. “Nines, does it smell weird down here to you?”

“What do you mean?” Fuck, Nines was an alpha and he probably wasn’t programmed to have that good of a sense of smell, still, Gavin hoped that he’d be able to help somehow. 

“The bathroom upstairs, it smelled…” Gavin felt a little bit silly because maybe he really was letting this horror show of a house get to him. Still, he pressed on because something in his gut told him too and more often than not he was obliged to trust his instincts, they didn’t often lead him astray. “I don’t know, it smelled like an omega, like Connor, but also… also not?” 

Nines stilled slightly from where he was thumbing through some old tech records by an android holding station that must have cost a small fortune. “The android from upstairs, when I looked though his memory… he was… Gavin,” Nines turned to face the detective, his eyes almost apologetic of what he was about to say. “Gavin he used to be an alpha.”

“How- how the fuck, that’s not possible is it?”

“Zlatko figured out a way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A spooky chapter just in time for Halloween! It's probably my favorite holiday tbh, I like scary movies and dressing up and eating a ton of candy, it's a great time UwU 
> 
> So, it's been a while, huh? Well, I want to thank everyone who left comments on this work, I got some more when I was taking a half break from this fic and they seriously inspired me to crank this chapter out in a few days! Comments mean a lot to writers and I want you guys to know that I appreciate everyone that I get, even if it's only just a few words or even a key smash <3 
> 
> Thank you for reading! Have a safe Halloween and an awesome day, remember to not eat too much candy ;3 (jk, treat urself)


	8. Kamski

A lot of late nights were had at the office for the majority of the precinct. The information on Zlatko spawned a ton of work for everyone between doing copious digging into the backgrounds of the android omegas who had been abducted, further interviews with the alphas found at the Temple of Eden, questioning a multitude of Cyberlife scientists on android biology, and several more searches of the Andronikov house headed by Gavin and Nines. 

Gavin was exhausted. He was wearing thin, kept snapping at small shit… even more than usual. He’d drank enough coffee to reach the point where the caffeine did nothing to ward off his tiredness, instead it just accelerated his heart rate and it was getting worrying. 

He should head home. It was midnight for Christ sake. He needed to head home or find a nice horizontal place to sleep until it became tomorrow and then do this whole thing all over again. 

He knew that they had technically made progress. But Zlatko was still missing. Omegas were still missing. 

He let out a weary sigh and looked across his desk. He was here alone with Nines, who was still typing away tirelessly on his computer. The android had been more than pulling his weight in this mission. Gavin’s eyes kept drooping. Closing for longer and longer periods of time. And in his mind, hazy and deprived of sleep, he could quietly admit to himself that he was glad to have him for a partner. 

It was too quiet. Gavin was used to the typical hustle and bustle of the office. Voices and printers and more typing clicks. He was used to a cacophony, and yet the solitary typing in the otherwise soft silence was comforting. The office was a little chilly, but that was fine. He just needed to finish this last report. Just one more and he could rest. For just a little bit.

He just had to…

-

“Detective?” A hushed voice broke through Gavin’s sleep. He groaned then pulled a blanket tighter around his shoulders and buried his head more into the crook of his arm. He deserved this sleep. Plus he was way too comfortable right now. 

Getting up? Hard pass. 

“Gavin?” 

“Go away, tin can.” He just wanted to keep his eyes closed and keep sleeping. The blanket around his shoulders was too warm to give up just yet. It was heavy and calming. It was perfect. 

The android huffed and Gavin failed to dignify it with an answer. 

His eyes closed and blissful rest returned like a gentle tide to sweep him away. 

-

“Gavin, time to get up.” Nines’ voice was still soft. 

Gavin huffed, but finally consented to open his eyes. Early morning light was streaming though the grand office windows, chairs and desks casting long shadows against the floor. A quick glance at his monitor showed that it was six-fifty. Only just too early for others to start flooding in to. 

As he stretched, cracking his back in a way that made it sound not all that dissimilar to a glow stick, he shrugged off the blanket around his-

Oh.

That wasn’t a blanket. 

Nines’ usually perfectly pressed jacket was fallen, rumpled on the floor. 

Oh.

Gavin stood from his swivel chair and grabbed the dumb thing. He marched over to the android, shoved the jacket at him with an almost inaudible, “Thanks.”

Nines gave the detective a beautiful, genuine, small smile that-

God dammit, it’s too early for this shit. 

Fuck he needed coffee. 

-

Interviews with the good people of Cyberlife yielded that… Yes, it’s possible to make an alpha or a beta android into an omega. Obviously. 

But the fact that it was more or less written into the android’s code, to be able to switch secondary gender so easily…

Gavin needed to talk to someone. 

He ground his teeth together. “Come on, Nines, we got ourselves an interview to conduct.”

-

The motherfucker had a massive portrait of himself right there in the foyer. In Gavin’s mind it only seemed to accentuate the fact that the brilliant dumbass they were about to talk to was a megalomaniac with a fucking god complex. 

No, Gavin wasn’t exactly a fan of his-

“Gavin!” Speak of the devil and he shall appear. “My God, it has been a while, hasn’t it. How have you been?”

See, there was a reason Eli was the favorite. That smarmy smile that he wore was certainly one of them. Could always sweet talk his fucking way out of anything.

Eli stood a fair distance away, arms open like Gavin was about to run up to him and give him a big hug. Not on his life. At least the billionaire had the decency to dress at least half ways casually, black sweats, bare feet, and a Supreme sweatshirt because of course the douche liked to flex with vintage merch. His scent was metallic as per usual, but Gavin could smell the faintest hints of thirium. Eli and his fucking tests… 

“Why in the hell-”

“How is the RK900 holding up?” Elijah was now completely ignoring Gavin after the cop pointedly refused the embrace. The inventor just marched right up to Nines looking him up and down, running diagnostics in his head. “See, I knew an alpha would be a good idea for the field. How does it do on missions?”

“He,” Gavin emphasized, “Does just fine. Eli-”

“Good, good.” He kept looking Nines up and down. “Would you mind if I ran a quick-”

“Shut the fuck up.” Gavin didn’t come here for fucking small talk and Eli knew it too. He liked getting on Gavin’s nerves, always had. “Why in the hell would you even make it an option to switch the secondary gender of androids?” 

Eli huffed like somehow Gavin was being ridiculous. “Of course it was a marketing strategy. Just not a very widely advertised one. Enough people complain that a beta can’t get the job done, you don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. You take the androids back and switch out certain biocomponents instead of creating a whole new model from scratch-”

“You’re already playing God, what’s a little bit more. Is that it?” 

“Something like that.” The fake smile stretched into something worse. Something genuine and awful. “We had to make sure that it could be done-”

“Eli, this isn’t some fun experiment. Androids, deviants with their own fucking personalities are being taken and modified against their will-”

“I never thought you would be the one preaching to me about the morality of machines, detective.”

“Androids and people are being taken, and some of it is because of this stupid fucking thing that you decided to add into the code. How does that make you feel, huh asshole?”

“We tested androids, with body parts that could be taken away and replaced with such little hassle because we wanted to know if it could be done to a human. How does that make you feel, brother?” Arms crossed, face returned to something entirely passive. Eli won this fight and he was gloating over it. 

“What?” 

“How would you like-”

It seemed so wrong… but… but what if… “Did you ever do that to a person?” His voice was hushed and even he didn’t know if it was from muted fear or subtle apprehension.

“I thought androids were people too-”

“Answer the fucking question!” He could be an alpha? A beta? He… it… it couldn’t actually be possible right? Would he want it? Give up his hearing and smell for… 

People underestimated him. People used his heats to their advantage. They found his weaknesses and exploited them. People treated him like shit just because they could. He was only seventeen when… 

And that never would have happened if he was an alpha. 

But that was the past… and now? He wouldn’t have to be harassed. He could actually climb the social ladder instead of constantly fighting to keep his position stable at a low rung. 

“Not yet, no.” The inventor answered after a heartbeat of thought.

-

More useless questions from Elijah about Nines’ productivity or whatever- mostly all answered by the android himself- before the detective finally decided that he should leave. 

“Come back soon.” The invention said with a facsimile of a friendly grin, coming off more Cheshire than anything else. 

Gavin walked away without another word. 

From behind him he could hear Eli, “Keep an eye on him, alright?”

“I believe that he is capable of watching out for himself, sir.”

Yeah, Gavin was proud to have him as a partner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its been a while but das jus how it be sometimes *heelys out*
> 
> oaksjdht in all seriousness, Happy Holidays, I hope you all are doing well!! It's been too long, so here's a nice short chapter ^^ More coming... sometime UwU''


End file.
